Japanese markets close to 20-year low

Apathy reigns in Japan. The stock market is drifting at close to 20-year lows and foreign investors are losing interest. There are many reasons why sentiment is so poor. Equity supply and demand is unbalanced. Foreigners, accounting for 54% of market turnover, have sharply reduced their Japanese equity weightings over the last year. Banks are sellers ahead of the September 2004 deadline to reduce equity holdings while companies can now return part of their pension funds to the government in cash. On the buying tack there are companies buying back their own shares, government-in...