HALF A BANZAI FOR WORLD EQUITIES
"It's getting to be the right time for equities," said Naoshi Kiyono, deputy general manager of Yasuda Mutual Life Insurance Company's international investment department. "Increasingly we feel the days for investing 100% in bonds are over."
The Japanese have been the dominant players in recent US Government fund-raising, their investment regularly accounting for more than one-third of each issue. But until very recently they have shied away from world equity markets, as too risky.
Now Japanese institutional investors say they will gradually increase their purchases, train new staff, and prepare for what may be a tenfold increase in overseas equities investment in the next three years.
Kiyono said: "Corporations are the clear beneficiaries of low inflation and low interest rates -- and that means equities."
Japanese and foreign brokerage firms are jostling for the lead in this huge potential market. "We're all trying to do the same thing -- take advantage of a growing Japanese appetite for US equities," said John Williams, president of Merrill Lynch Japan.
The Japanese Government is eager to encourage overseas investment, in an effort to stem the rising yen.