Japan stocks rise over 9% to end year on a high
Print Edition
TOKYO’S shares ended the year on a high note, climbing more than 9 percent in 2015 to rank among the world’s top performing major markets.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 9.07 percent while the Topix index of all first-section shares tacked on 9.93 percent since January — ahead of most major markets in the United States and Asia-Pacific.
The positive finish marked the fourth year of gains for the Japanese market, although the Nikkei is sitting below its June highs.
Yesterday, Japan’s last trading session of the year, the Nikkei ticked up 0.27 percent, or 51.48 points, to close at 19,033.71.
The Topix rose 0.25 percent, or 3.91 points, to 1,547.3.
Analysts were generally upbeat on the prospects for Japanese equities in 2016, saying shares are still relatively cheap.
Also positive, the yen would remain weak on expectations of more monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, as it looks to counter sluggish growth in the world’s number three economy, they said.
A weak yen boosts the profits of major exporters and lifts investor demand for their shares.
The past year saw Japan unveil a long-awaited corporate governance code in a bid to improve firms’ transparency, and attract more overseas investors.
The national pension fund — the world’s biggest — also helped boost the market in 2015 as it ploughed more of its bond-heavy portfolio into domestic and international stocks.
The cloudy picture for China’s economy will be crucial to Japanese shares in 2016, according to analysts.
“It isn’t that China’s economy is in such a bad state, but that it’s difficult to know what really is going on,” said Chihiro Ohta, general manager of investment information at SMBC Nikko Securities.
Julian Jessop at research house Capital Economics said Japan’s prospects were bright.
“A combination of fading fears over China and additional yen weakness as the Bank of Japan steps up the pace of its asset purchases should allow Japanese equities to outperform their US peers in 2016,” he said in a commentary.
The BOJ’s 80 trillion yen (US$665 billion) stimulus scheme — a cornerstone of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attempt to spur growth, dubbed Abenomics — sent the yen into free fall.
Yesterday, the dollar fetched 120.41 yen, making the yen worth about 40 percent less than when Abe came to power three years ago.
Among the big gainers in 2015 was Japan Post, which raised US$11.5 billion in a hotly anticipated initial public offering aimed at privatizing the huge company.
The triple-listing — which included the firm’s banking and insurance units — saw the holding company’s stock soar about 33 percent from its IPO price.
But the insurance division led the pack with nearly a 42 percent increase since the listing.
Nintendo climbed almost 33 percent this year as it presses on with a plan to revive its fortunes with a push into the lucrative smartphone gaming market.
Sony tacked on about 21 percent in 2015 on high hopes for the struggling firm’s turnaround plan.
Meanwhile, Toshiba’s stock plunged by nearly half since it was hammered earlier this year by an embarrassing profit-padding scandal.
Auto parts supplier Takata, embroiled in a global exploding airbag crisis, saw its shares shrink 56 percent over the year.
Despite the Nikkei’s strong performance in recent years, the index remains a shadow of its former self. It peaked at almost 39,000 in the last days of 1989.
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