By Chris Tracey, investment director
2001 was another horrible year for Japanese equities. The damage was done by the complete failure of Japan to participate in the global fourth quarter rally. At the heart of the stock market's woes have been two factors. The first has been the profound disappointment that the prime minister has failed to deliver on reforms. The second has been the deterioration of the economy as the year progressed, revealing in turn that the banking system remained in deep trouble. The banking supervisory body, for example, estimated that bad loans at the end of the year represented 6.25% of loans aga...
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