Positive news providing boost to Japanese market

The Japanese market has been driven into relative outperformance by a growing stream of positive domestic news, says Denis Clough, head of Japanese equities at Schroders. Crucial among these is that the weakening of the currency has given impetus to export-driven companies, which make up around a third of the entire stock market. 'Japan's equity market has significantly outperformed all other major markets this year despite persistent problems and the outlook remains positive for a number of reasons,' says Clough. 'Japan failed to participate fully in the global equity market ...