Japanese stocks will be the best investment among the world's biggest markets during 2010, says Byron Wien, vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Services and former chief market strategist for the Pequot Capital Management hedge fund.
Stock prices are low and the economy is improving in Japan, which is good news for companies there, Wien tells Bloomberg.
“I would definitely start buying now,” Wien says.
“Everybody who could sell Japan has sold Japan. Everybody is on one side of the boat. My view is that we have a pretty good chance of having this one be the best of the major industrialized markets. It’s not a boom, but things are getting better.”
The yen, meanwhile, has weakened from record highs, which makes Japanese exports more competitive.
The Japanese government recently issued a report saying that it had not changed its assessment of the economy although Tokyo did remove foreign exchange and stock-price volatility from a list of risks it is watching.
“Recent yen and stock price movements have been fairly calm, so we concluded that they are not likely to pose a significant downside risk to the economy for the time being,” says Cabinet Office Parliamentary Secretary Keisuke Tsumura, according to Dow Jones newswires.
The yen strengthened to 84.82 against the dollar in November but is now trading at around 91.00.
Stock prices have been rising, and morality appears to be doing likewise.
“The rises in share prices that started at the end of last year improved worker sentiment,” says Finance Minister Naoto Kan, according to Dow Jones newswires.
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