News & Insights

TOPIX ended up 4.80% on the previous month-end. The expectations for global COVID-19 vaccinations and US additional economic stimulus underpinned the Japanese equity market although concerns over the hike in US interest rates still remained. The Bank of Japan decided at a monetary policy meeting that they would exclude Nikkei 225 ETF from their ETF buying list, which impacted the Nikkei 225 index.

TOPIX ended up 3.08% on the previous month-end. The expectations for a recovery of company’s earnings and US additional economic stimulus pushed the market higher. The market lost the momentum in the latter half of the month due to the decline of the US equity market following a sharp hike in US bond yield but closed higher than the previous month-end.

TOPIX ended up 0.23% on the previous month-end. In the first half of the month the Japanese equity market rallied on news that the Democrats had won majority control of Congress, and with this the expectations for additional US stimulus pushed the market higher. However, market sentiment was dampened by the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Japan and turmoil in the US equity market around the GameStop share surge caused by retail investors at the end of the month. As a result, the market closed almost flat.

The Japanese equity market for December rose and TOPIX ended up higher at 2.84%. The market favoured the news that US president Trump had signed the unemployment benefits package in the latter half of the month whilst the market struggled to find a direction between vaccine distribution and concerns over domestic economic activities evoked by the rise of the number of Covid-19 cases in Japan.