Sector report: Searching for signs of encouragement in Japan

After strong performance in 2013, when the TSE Topix and Nikkei 225 indices comfortably outperformed the main global equity index, the Japanese market has struggled to make any decent headway in 2014 overall: the Topix index has underperformed on a global basis, although returns have been slightly better for UK investors that chose to hedge their currency exposure back to sterling. Most of the underperformance occurred in the first quarter but performance was much improved during the subsequent six months.  Economic growth was very strong in Q1, which was a factor behind the stock mar...