Japan Specialist

Mark Chadwick

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>Japanese markets surged, with the Nikkei rising 3.2% on a weaker yen, strong earnings, and tech sector gains, while BoJ held rates steady amid cautious forecasts.</li>
<li>Japan’s economic data showed mixed trends, including falling industrial output, modest retail growth, and declining consumer confidence, raising concerns about domestic demand and labour market softness.</li>
<li>Top stock performers included Sumi Pharma, Toyota Industries, and Nidec, driven by strong earnings, privatization speculation, and bold profit and restructuring plans that lifted investor sentiment.</li>
</ul>


Japanese markets surged, with the Nikkei rising 3.2% on a weaker yen, strong earnings, and tech sector gains, while BoJ held rates steady amid cautious forecasts.
Japan’s economic data showed mixed trends, including falling industrial output, modest retail growth, and declining consumer confidence, raising concerns about domestic demand and labour market softness.
Top stock performers included Sumi Pharma, Toyota Industries, and Nidec, driven by strong earnings, privatization speculation, and bold profit and restructuring plans that lifted investor sentiment.


Japan Strategy Weekly | Seven-Day Winning Streak

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements, Aequitas Research

Sumeet Singh

Head of Research, IPOs & Placements

IPOs and Placements coverage across Asia Pacific

Aequitas Research

We cover all listing across the Asia Pacific along with follow-up placements. As of Dec 2020, our team had covered 539 IPOs with a hit rate of 73.5% and 685 placements with a hit rate of 66.8%.

We combine fundamental bottom-up views with our proprietary quantitative framework to provide a holistic coverage across new listings and placements. Our coverage includes pre-IPO notes before the deal is launched, follow-up analysis once the deal is live and post-listing trading analysis as well.

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/paypay-corporation" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:35269:1" rel="noopener">PayPay (PAYP US)</a> (PP), a payments and financial services platform, raised around US$880m in its US IPO in March 2026, the lockup on its shareholders is set to expire soon.</li>
<li>PP operates a digital finance platform that serves as a payment solution for users and merchants, along with offering additional services.</li>
<li>In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.</li>
</ul>



PayPay (PAYP US) (PP), a payments and financial services platform, raised around US$880m in its US IPO in March 2026, the lockup on its shareholders is set to expire soon.
PP operates a digital finance platform that serves as a payment solution for users and merchants, along with offering additional services.
In this note, we will talk about the lockup dynamics and possible placement.


Aequitas: PayPay Lockup Expiry - US$10.5bn Lockup Release

Equity Capital Markets

Zhongji Innolight   / Equity Capital Markets

<ul>
<li>Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.</li>
<li>On the IPO front, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/zhongji-innolight-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:6986:1" rel="noopener">Zhongji Innolight (300308 CH)</a> launched HK's largest listing so far this year, while <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sbi-funds-management-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:48001:1" rel="noopener">SBI Funds Management</a> reopened the Indian markets.</li>
<li>There weren't many placements over the past week but we did look at a few upcoming lockup expiries.</li>
</ul>


Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.
On the IPO front, Zhongji Innolight (300308 CH) launched HK's largest listing so far this year, while SBI Funds Management reopened the Indian markets.
There weren't many placements over the past week but we did look at a few upcoming lockup expiries.


Aequitas ECM Weekly (27 July 2026)- Innolight, SBI, Tier IV, Indo-MIM, Gcash, Archion, SinoTruck

<ul>
<li>Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.</li>
<li>On the IPO front, a number of large listings are already gearing up for what is seeming to be a busy second half</li>
<li>There weren't many placements across but we did have a look at Archion's valuations in its indicative price range.</li>
</ul>


Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.
On the IPO front, a number of large listings are already gearing up for what is seeming to be a busy second half
There weren't many placements across but we did have a look at Archion's valuations in its indicative price range.


Aequitas ECM Weekly (20 July 2026)- Innolight, Gcash, SBI, Jio, Tier IV, Robotechnik, Archion

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning, Copley Fund Research

Steven Holden

Asset Allocation & Fund Positioning

Copley Fund Research

Copley Fund Research provide research and data on asset allocation among Global and Emerging Market equity funds.  The analysis details absolute and relative positioning across countries, sectors and industries together with highly granular data on single stock and single fund allocations.  The data is updated monthly with time series going back to January 2011.

Global Research - Analysis of 165 prominent Global equity funds, combined AUM $335bn
GEM Research - Analysis of 127 prominent global EM equity funds, combined AUM $250bn

Asset Allocation - Global and GEM Equity

Among active Global managers, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks are the 3rd largest country/sector holding in the Asia region.  Average fund weights sit behind Taiwan Tech and Japan Industrials at 1.07%, with 57.1% of the 380 funds in our analysis invested in the sector with combined AUM of $9.18bn.Measured against other Asian country/sectors, changes in fund ownership have been positive and among the highest across all measures over the last 6-months.  Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, average weights, funds invested, cash flows and the balance of buyers vs sellers were all positive for Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks.  Infact, across most ownership metrics, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks have overtaken, or at least closed to gap to China Consumer Discretionary stocks since the 'Tech Crackdown' in October of 2020.  We can see evidence of this rotation on a fund level, with Aberdeen's Global Unconstrained Fund, LBPAM's Actions Monde and BNY Mellon's Global Opportunities Fund examples of managers rotating from China Consumer Discretionary and into Japan since October 2020.Analysis taken from our Global research, covering 380 active Global strategies with combined AUM of $1.1bn

Among active Global managers, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks are the 3rd largest country/sector holding in the Asia region.  Average fund weights sit behind Taiwan Tech and Japan Industrials at 1.07%, with 57.1% of the 380 funds in our analysis invested in the sector with combined AUM of $9.18bn.Measured against other Asian country/sectors, changes in fund ownership have been positive and among the highest across all measures over the last 6-months.  Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, average weights, funds invested, cash flows and the balance of buyers vs sellers were all positive for Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks.  Infact, across most ownership metrics, Japan Consumer Discretionary stocks have overtaken, or at least closed to gap to China Consumer Discretionary stocks since the 'Tech Crackdown' in October of 2020.  We can see evidence of this rotation on a fund level, with Aberdeen's Global Unconstrained Fund, LBPAM's Actions Monde and BNY Mellon's Global Opportunities Fund examples of managers rotating from China Consumer Discretionary and into Japan since October 2020.Analysis taken from our Global research, covering 380 active Global strategies with combined AUM of $1.1bn

Japan Consumer Discretionary:  Benefiting from China's Downfall

Japan

TOYOTA INDUSTRIES CORPORATION, a member of the Toyota Motor Group, assembles motor vehicles and manufactures automotive parts such as engines and air conditioner compressors.  The Company also produces industrial equipment and textile machinery as well as electronic devices such as computer modems and power inverters.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
Market Cap (USDm)	0.00
P/E	0.00
Dividend (Yield)	0.00

Toyota Industries (6201 JP)

Japan Strategy Weekly | Seven-Day Winning Streak

Japanese markets surged on weaker yen, strong earnings, and tech gains, while BoJ held rates steady; mixed economic data raises concerns about...

Mark Chadwick

Aequitas: PayPay Lockup Expiry - US$10.5bn Lockup Release

PayPay (PAYP US) (PP), a payments and financial services platform, raised around US$880m in its US IPO in March 2026, the lockup on its...

Sumeet Singh

Aequitas ECM Weekly (27 July 2026)- Innolight, SBI, Tier IV, Indo-MIM, Gcash, Archion, SinoTruck

Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.

Sumeet Singh

Aequitas ECM Weekly (20 July 2026)- Innolight, Gcash, SBI, Jio, Tier IV, Robotechnik, Archion

Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.

Sumeet Singh

Japan Consumer Discretionary: Benefiting from China's Downfall

Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, active Global managers have pivoted towards the Japan Consumer...

Steven Holden

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

Japan Strategy Weekly | Seven-Day Winning Streak

​Japanese markets surged on weaker yen, strong earnings, and tech gains, while BoJ held rates steady; mixed economic data raises concerns about...

Mark Chadwick

Aequitas: PayPay Lockup Expiry - US$10.5bn Lockup Release

PayPay (PAYP US) (PP), a payments and financial services platform, raised around US$880m in its US IPO in March 2026, the lockup on its...

Sumeet Singh

Aequitas ECM Weekly (27 July 2026)- Innolight, SBI, Tier IV, Indo-MIM, Gcash, Archion, SinoTruck

Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.

Sumeet Singh

Aequitas ECM Weekly (20 July 2026)- Innolight, Gcash, SBI, Jio, Tier IV, Robotechnik, Archion

Aequitas Research's weekly update on the IPOs, placements, lockup expiry and other ECM linked events that were covered by the team over the past week.

Sumeet Singh

Japan Consumer Discretionary: Benefiting from China's Downfall

Against a backdrop of plummeting exposure in China Consumer Discretionary stocks, active Global managers have pivoted towards the Japan Consumer...

Steven Holden

Japanese markets surged on weaker yen, strong earnings, and tech gains, while BoJ held rates steady; mixed economic data raises concerns about...