投稿者: mizushima

Today is a national holiday, Marine Day, in Japan.  Marine Day （third Monday of July）: day for giving thanks for the many blessings Japan receives from the ocean as a country completely surrounded by water and also for reaffirming the people’s desire to prosper as a maritime country （designated as a day to remember the ocean in 1941; became a national holiday in 1996）.  A odd holiday, but it is a good day-off to ponder the European crisis. A shrewd trader can make the most of this uncertain period.

TOPICS OF THE WEEK

To promote money and business flow between Japan and Malaysia is always the task No.1 to me, the head of Subsidiar of an Malaysian entity. 

One way is to raise a shariah compliant private-equity in Japan. This will help Japan to promote new buinsess after the Great Quake, while it will create a new investment class to Malaysian and GCC investors particularly who were limited to make investment only shariah compliant targets.

Another way is to launch a Malaysian fund to Japanese institutional and retail investors. Malaysia, together with Indonesia,  is the country which enjoys the longest population bonus among ASEAN countires. The country is rich in natural resources and is suppling industrial products to developed countries. The country looks most stable in APAC nations.

Please be informed that PNB keeps the best position to promote money and business flows between Malaysia and Japan.

MARKETS

                     July 13      1 week%Change

    NIKKEI      8724.12    -3.28

    TOPIX         746.34    -3.30

Weak corporate earnings in the U.S. and no visible results from the Euro Finance Ministers’ meeting were the main reasons of more than 3% reduction for the last week. This week will be another directionless week. The market will keep weak sentiments as QE3 and BOJ are not expected in imminent future.

ECONOMY

Generally speaking, sentiment is better on Japanese economy. People may spend more during summer holidays. The year’s recruitment of newly grads from universities will be improved, according to Nikkei Newspaper.

Although China slowdown may be the risk factor, Japanese economic performance must be better than other developed economies.

Comparing to Taiwan and Korea, Japan will less vulnerable to the European and American recessionary situation.

POLITICS

Now, the ruling DPJ was split because a group led by Mr. Ozawa said SAYONARA to PM Noda. Ozawa decides his party name, Kokumin no kurashiga ichiban. It literally means “People’s Livelihoods First,” which is regarded as joke by many Japanese voters.

Political situation becomes very fluid. Japan does not have time to waste in playing musical chairs. Only solution will be a general election to decide undecided issues.

 See you next week!

I am currently in KL, Malaysia on business trip. One thing I was impressed by was the improved passport control at the KL International Airport. You do not have to fill the immigration from. Entry to Malaysia is completely paper free. The lines at the passport control were much shorter than before. Good Job Malaysia!

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TOPICS OF THE WEEK

Japanese investors start to know the distribution they get from mutual funds are largely from principal not from performance of the investment.

Japanese individuals have invested more than Yen 30 trillion (about RM 1.1 trillion) into High-Yield-Monthly-Dividend type mutual funds facing very very very low interest rate in Japan. Many of those funds, however, have been distributing more than the actual fund performance to attract retail investors who do not know the gimmick of the HIGH PERFORMANCE they get.

FSA Japan has started giving guidance to Asset Management companies and Brokers to disclose how much distribution are made from actual performance and how much are from principal. The results are alarming. Some funds ,which have provided high dividend by reducing principal, are facing NAV reduction because investors are selling such funds. 

Here are some exampes of funds which have high distribution from principal.

Name of the fund                NAV(Yen Bn)   Distribution from Principle     

Global Sovereign Open      1589                80%                                       

Daiwa US REIT                   576                 50%                                       

Global High Yield                 653                 50%                                       

MARKETS

                     July 6        %Change

    NIKKEI      9020.75  +0.15

    TOPIX         771.83   +0.22

This week will be another directionless week. A week of Waiting for some better news on European crisis and U.S. economy, and Expecting a lot to the BOJ policy meeting middle of the week. Hard to tell what will happen, but it may be OK to say the Nikkei will be around 9000 yen.

ECONOMY

Generally speaking, sentiment is better on Japanese economy, thanks to better economic statistics comparing to Europe and the U.S.

Although China slowdown may be the risk factor, Japanese economic performance must be better than other developed economies.

POLITICS

Now, the ruling DPJ was split because a group led by Mr. Ozawa said SAYONARA to PM Noda. Political situation becomes much more fluid. Japan does not have time to waste in playing musical chairs. Only solution will be a general election to decide undecided issues. ]

See you next week!