Hendry: Japan's return is bad news for the global economy

Hugh Hendry has backed Japanese equities to continue their stellar start to 2013, but is also boosting exposure to sovereign bonds on concerns Japan's recovery will have harmful effects elsewhere.

The hedge fund manager's Eclectica fund returned 3.5% in Q1 2013, underperforming the wider market in part due to damaging long positions in commodity futures, spread across gold, oil and soft commodities. More positively, Hendry's decision to turn bullish on Japan in Q4 last year paid off as equities have rallied and the yen has tumbled. The Bank of Japan's unprecedented stimulus package has seen the yen depreciate 20%, providing a boost for Japanese assets. He has bought TOPIX index futures and shares in Japanese property companies to exploit the weakening currency. But Hendry (p...