Japan Stocks News and Analysis from Seeking Alpha
'Japan' Tag RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com



Japanese Tech Stock Weekly Summary (5/5-5/11) (May 13)

The following is excerpted from IRG's weekly stock report:

? ? ?

Complete Story »


Nikkei Weekly Outlook: Earnings Cloud Overhang? (May 12)

What to watch: Earnings season peaks with over 1,700 companies reporting this week; Monday, 5/12: Economy Watchers Survey - March (Cabinet Office); Money supply data - April (Bank of Japan [BOJ]); Wednesday, 5/14: Corporate Goods Price Index - April [BOJ]; U.S. CPI - April; Thursday, 5/14: Machinery Orders - March (Cabinet Office); Mansion/Condominium sales - April (Real Estate Economic Institute Co.); Friday, 5/16: GDP - January to March quarter (Cabinet Office)

Ongoing: Earnings, earnings, earnings! And as always, external factors will impact domestic equities, most noticeably rising commodities (record oil) and a weaker dollar (stronger yen): ¥102.80 on Friday vs. ¥105.4 the prior Friday.

Complete Story »


Some Japanese Companies Wary of Foreign Investors (May 12)

With foreign investors accounting for upwards of 60% of market trading value and over 30% of total stock ownership, it is not an exaggeration to say that the fate of Japanese stocks is in the hands of foreign institutional investors.

Yet management teams of most Japanese companies are at best ambivalent and at worst xenophobic about foreign investors, and are again increasing cross-holdings as well as introducing ?poison pill? takeover defenses to protect against unwanted suitors.

Complete Story »


The Dollar and Asia: Time for a Reversal? (May 7)
Macro Man submits:

Is the worm turning, if ever so slightly, for the dollar? Regular readers will recall that last summer, Macro Man began to contemplate the notion that aggressive Fed easing would generate a "dollar down bubble." The view played out as well as possibly could have been expected, in both the currency and the commodity space; Macro Man's only regret is that he was hors de marche when the most impulsive breakdown in the dollar occurred. And yet he now finds himself less tactically bearish of the buck than he's been since August of last year.

Recent data from Europe suggests that some of the pain of tighter credit is starting to spread. While there is still no assurance that the ECB will act in the near or even medium term to cut rates, it seems clear that the endgame will be an ECB rate cut. That, combined with the nosebleed valuations of EUR/USD (and many of its closely correlated peers), makes dollar shorts less attractive at the moment. When when considers that Vo...

Japanese Tech Stock Weekly Summary (4/28-5/4) (May 6)

The following is excerpted from IRG's weekly stock report:

? ? ?

Complete Story »


Nikkei Weekly Outlook: Post-Golden Week Rally in Store? (May 5)

What to watch: Monday and Tuesday, May 5-6: Nothing ? TSE closed (trading resumes Wednesday); Earnings season also resumes; Friday, May 9: Index of Business Conditions (Cabinet Office)

Ongoing: As always, external factors will impact domestic equities; however at present, conditions seem favorable given the weakening yen (now around ¥105/$1) and an accommodative Fed on all fronts. Concurrently, that the Japanese government is protectionist or that the Bank of Japan is helpless seems to be beside the point. Meantime, the ongoing question is whether Japanese stocks represent true value or instead, if the apparent value is merely an unobtainable mirage for gaijin investors.

Complete Story »


Japan Investing Remains an Enigma (May 4)
IndexUniverse submits:

By Murray Coleman

Despite ongoing political turmoil, the Japanese Nikkei average is rallying, surging nearly 20% since mid-March.

Complete Story »


A Few Reasons to Buy Yen (May 1)
Jake Berzon submits:

In a continuing theme of diversifying my cash holdings into currencies other than the U.S dollar, I used the opportunity of the Yen correcting about 8% over the past 2 weeks to buy into CurrencyShares Yen ETF (FXY) at $95.39. FXY is the easiest, lowest cost and most liquid instrument that I know of for virtually converting the U.S dollar into Japanese Yen. FXY has current support at around $95 per trust share.

Complete Story »


Japanese Tech Stock Weekly Summary (4/21-27) (Apr 29)

The following is excerpted from IRG's weekly stock report:

Hardware Sony Corp.'s (SNE) videogame unit delayed for the second time the release of its much-anticipated virtual-community service for the PlayStation 3, showing the extra care it is taking in vetting products as demand for the videogame console is increasing. The 3-D service called Home, which originally was expected to be sold starting last year, now is expected to be available in the fall, the company said. The service will let users create avatar characters, decorate homes and interact with other users in a virtual world. As more people have access to faster Internet connections, online communities like those that allow players to socialize with one another in addition to playing games have grown popular in recent years. They are considered an important part of the game-playing experience. Fujitsu (FJTSY.PK) has launched a series of 320GB 2.5-inch hard disk drives containing automatic hardware-based encr...

Escaping Japan's Potential Value Trap (Apr 28)

Escaping Japan's potential value trap requires good corporate governance.

The Nikkei 225 has already rebounded some 18% from March 17 lows. While the economic and profit environment continues to deteriorate, foreign investors, the major drivers of Japanese stock prices, have again returned as net buyers from April. With any luck, the Nikkei 225 could see a bullish ?golden cross? with the 13-week MA moving above the 26-week MA, as the Nikkei 225 has moved above its 13-week MA.This would completely negate our bearish call of NK 225 downside to 10,000 and a JPY/USD run to JPY80 that was predicated on a continued deepening of the credit crisis, which for now does not appear to be the case. The ?luck? that the Nikkei 225 would need is, a) a weaker trend in JPY, b) falling/stable oil prices, and c) a shallow US/global recession.Since Japan does not have the growth potential of its BRICs neighbors, the main price driver is expected to be value, not growth. To avoid becoming a mere value tr...