Buy for a Japanese Recovery

Article Excerpt

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $8.67 (American Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through a broker) is an exchange-traded mutual fund that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index. The fund charges a fee of 0.59% of assets. The fund’s top holdings include: Toyota Motor, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Canon Inc., Nintendo, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Honda Motor, Tokyo Electric Power, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone and Takeda Pharmaceutical. Japan’s economy is heavily dependent on exports, especially to the U.S. Falling consumer demand and unfavourable currency movements have cut the country’s exports by as much as 35%, and pushed it into recession. However, recently elected Prime Minister Taro Abe has put stimulus measures in place totalling $842.5 billion. This should help push growth up until global economies recover. We see the iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund as a good way for safety-conscious investors to buy Japanese stocks. Investors should keep their Japanese exposure under 10%, however. The fund is…