Japan’s stock market barely grew for decades. Now it’s booming
Al Jazeera
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index is at its highest in more than 30 years.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – For decades, international investors shunned Japan’s stock market, whose meagre gains mirrored the country’s protracted economic stagnation.
These days, Japanese stocks are the hottest game in town as the Nikkei 225 index rides a 34-year high.
After limping through Japan’s “lost decades” following the collapse of a massive asset bubble in the 1990s, Tokyo’s benchmark index last year gained 28.2 percent, comfortably beating the S&P 500 in the United States.
There are no immediate signs of the buying frenzy slowing down.
In January, the Nikkei 225 climbed a further 8 percent, with foreign investors buying a net 956 billion yen ($6.5bn) of Japanese stocks in the span of a single week.
