7IM's Jack Turner on the events that could threaten the Topix

Following Shinzo Abe's re-election as Prime Minister in 2012 and the infamous 'three arrow' stimulus package, the Japanese equity market was a star performer among the world's stock markets in 2013.

But since then, it has often disappointed. Much of the original excitement has fallen away and the need for reforms are still there.  The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has been making headlines recently by adjusting the yield curve control policy it introduced in 2016. The key tweak it made is how the central bank targets the longer end of the curve, chiefly the 10-year Japanese government bond yield.  The BoJ will now allow more flexibility at the 10-year rate, meaning it could stray higher than the 0.1% limit previously imposed. This should represent a bullish signal for Japanese banks, which ...