Japan: Nomura's June Individual Investor Survey

The results of Nomura’s Individual Investor Survey [pdf] for June show an up-tick in bullish sentiment for the first time in three months, although the responses unsurprisingly signal caution behind the optimism.

Nomura closed its survey on May 23. At that point, the Nikkei 225 was stuck in somewhat of rut, where it would rally to start the week, but end flat or down by Friday.

With the Nikkei closing above 17,700 on May 23, it was up 2.5% for the month and in positive territory by a slightly lesser amount for the year, but was lagging robust gains in overseas markets.

Overseas bullishness seems to have actually failed to influence the sentiment of Japanese retail investors, despite the Nikkei recovering 18,000 to start June -- a rally fueled by foreign investors.

Nikkei 225 Stock Average chart as of Thursday's (6/7) close:

Extracts from June's survey:

Most Appealing Sectors:

1. Materials (4th consecutive month)
2. Pharma & Healthcare (also 2nd last month)
3. Electrical Machinery & Precision Equipment (also third last month)

Least Appealing Sectors:

1. Construction & Real Estate (ranked third [lowest] last month)
2. Electricity & Gas (also ranked second [lowest] last month)
3. Transportation & Warehousing (not among "most/least-3" last month)

Most-watched Stocks (top-10):

1. Toyota (TM) (JP: 7203)
2. Sony (SNE) (JP: 6758)
3. Mizuho Fin. Grp. (MFG) (JP: 8411)
4. Softbank (SFTBF.PK) (JP: 9984)
5. Tokyo Electric Power (JP: 9501)
6. Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) (JP: 7974)
7. Canon (CAJ) (JP: 7751)
8. Nippon Steel (JP: 5401)
9. Mitsubishi UFJ FG (MTU) (JP: 8306)
10. Kagome (JP: 2811)

*ADR honorable mentions:
• Nomura Hldgs (NMR) (JP: 8604)
• NEC (NIPNY) (JP: 6701)
• Sharp (SHCAY.PK) (JP: 6753)
• Honda (HMC) (JP: 7267)
• NTT DoCoMo (DCM) (JP: 9437)
• NTT (NTT) (JP: 9432)

Disclosure: The author does not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.