Government reforms and societal shifts have reignited investor confidence after years of economic stagnation

Government reforms and societal shifts have reignited investor confidence after years of economic stagnation
Most investment into Japan goes into the more famous names but local companies are undergoing the real revival
The move is part of a growing trend of Asia-based asset managers offering funds in Europe.
Portuguese and Spanish fund selectors like European equities and emerging market debt, have improved their outlook on US stocks but are neutral towards Japanese equities, according to Last Word Research.
Japanese equity funds have lost their appeal to Nordic fund selectors because of concerns about the depreciating yen.
Fund managers remain bullish on Japan’s corporate earnings growth as stagnant inflation seems highly unlikely to spur its central bank into unwinding quantitative easing for at least another two years.
While Danish fund selectors are renowned for being some of the most optimistic in Europe in responding to Expert Investor’s research, their latest sentiment on equities are systematically less positive compared with the European average.
Japanese equities had the largest positive shift in net sentiment across pan-European fund selectors during the last quarter, according to Expert Investor research.
Click through the slides below to find out more about the views of the industry toward Japanese equities.
Demand for European equities is the lowest from Nordic fund selectors as they turn their interest towards Asia and emerging markets, according to Expert Investor.
The Japanese economy is in the midst of its longest period of growth in more than a decade, helping drive an average return of 16.11% in sterling terms for funds in the UK Investment Association’s Japan sector in 2017, with the best performing fund up nearly 40%.
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