Japanese Equities: Value Trap Intact

The Nikkei 225 dropped 4.25% to 10,473 on Monday, to a 4-year 8-month low, while the broader Topix lost 4.67% to fall through the 1,000-level at 999.05 (a 5-year 10-month low). Jasdaq fell by a similar amount and Mothers tanked a whole 10%. Nearly 95% of Topix-1 stocks closed lower and about 60% fell to new yearly lows. While that’s pretty darn bearish, how about the fact that the Nikkei is about 40% off its peak from last year!

Overnight in Asia, India’s Sensex lost 5.8%, the Straits Times in Singapore  lost 5.6%, the Shanghai Composite lost 5.2%, the Hang Seng lost 5% and the Seoul Composite lost 4.3%, all outpacing the Nikkei’s decline. However, take no comfort in knowing that. While there’s always a bull market somewhere, there likely won’t be for a while in Tokyo, as fear prevails. The value trap remains strongly intact despite amazingly attractive dividend yields that one would figure would entice domestic institutions.