Japan/Asia Long-Short, LightStream Research

Mio Kato

Japan/Asia Long-Short

Long-Short Analysis on Japan, Asia and the World

LightStream Research

LightStream conducts quantitatively rigorous and data-driven analysis with a focus on Japan and Asia.

We consistently cover the Tech, Consumer and Industrial sectors, and provide ECM and Events coverage more broadly.

We supplement traditional qualitative insights from company relationships with a robust quantitative foundation that examines as much historical data as is available.
We further refine the accuracy of our insights and calls through the use of alternative data to flesh out current trends, and through a valuation framework that emphasises non-superficial peer group selection and a proper attempt to understand the metrics and changes that have driven security valuations in the past.

Equity Bottom-Up

<p>While the battle for payment systems between Epic and Apple will continue with Epic filing an appeal, the rather mild ruling against Apple has some interesting implications, as do the responses of both companies to the ruling. In the context of regulatory upheaval in the key gaming space in China and a slew of regulatory moves in other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, there is plenty worth mulling as new winners and losers could emerge.</p>

While the battle for payment systems between Epic and Apple will continue with Epic filing an appeal, the rather mild ruling against Apple has some interesting implications, as do the responses of both companies to the ruling. In the context of regulatory upheaval in the key gaming space in China and a slew of regulatory moves in other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, there is plenty worth mulling as new winners and losers could emerge.

Chart based progressive global trading strategies, Chart Partners

Thomas Schroeder

Chart based progressive global trading strategies

Chart Partners

Chart Partners objective is to discover medium-term cycle turns and profit opportunities before they unfold, within structural trends while preserving capital with clear degrees of risk. We have real return ideas. 

Markets are dynamic and trading systems must reflect this. It is crucial to determine underlying correlations and lead-lag relationships within global markets and the impact on linked instruments. Our weekly Chartonics product gives you short-term trading strategies that can be applied within the medium and longer term macro trends that are mapped out in our strategy updates. 

Our methodology fuses global market variables and isolates drivers in trends. We specialize in FX, index trade in NY and Asia with a focus on Asian stocks. 

Technical Analysis

<p>Some stock names that look interesting in Japan on weakness or above breakout points. Nintendo, Oriental Land, Toshiba, NTT and McDonalds. Some names are in play due to index deletion/inclusion.</p><p>The Nikkei is near 30,200 short term resistance and a bit overdone that supports rotation into stocks that have not run or have just cleared key resistance.</p><p>This webcast runs through buy levels and targets on this group of stocks.</p>

Some stock names that look interesting in Japan on weakness or above breakout points. Nintendo, Oriental Land, Toshiba, NTT and McDonalds. Some names are in play due to index deletion/inclusion.The Nikkei is near 30,200 short term resistance and a bit overdone that supports rotation into stocks that have not run or have just cleared key resistance.This webcast runs through buy levels and targets on this group of stocks.

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Event-Driven

<p>Every year (usually in the beginning of September), the Nikkei Inc Index team conducts an annual review of the major price-weighted Nikkei indices - the most important being the Nikkei 225 Average - and adds and subtracts constituents according to the Rules.</p>
<p>Today, they announced the 2021 version of the changes (<a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210906E_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a>, <a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210906E_3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PAF changes</a>).</p>
<p><em>Below is <strong>Some Background</strong>. If you want to skip ahead to the juicy analysis, you can jump ahead to the <strong>Changes Announced</strong> section just below, and then more below the fold.</em></p>
<h3>Some Background</h3>
<p>The Nikkei 225, well-known globally as "the Nikkei" is a price-weighted index, originally started nearly 70 years ago as an average of a selected number of stocks listed on the TSE First Section. Later, it became 225 members. </p>
<p>Because it is price-weighted, and because for a long time it made no divisor adjustments for stock splits (so when a stock split 2:1 its weight fell by half because price fell by half and trackers had to sell half their shares in that stock), and the price multiplier was determined by the par value of a company, then they later they started adjusting for splits, stocks which are old, never split, AND have a high price end up having a high weight in the index. </p>
<p>There was a huge reshuffle in April 2000 when the Nikkei decided that the system needed rebalancing to include more tech, so they changed the Rules. They pushed 30 names out and 30 names in, <em>and the 30 names added were 50% of the new index</em>. </p>
<p>Twenty one years after the prior change in methodology, this past May 10 the Nikkei Inc Index Team announced new changes to the Rules. There was a <a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210510E_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposal</a>, with an <a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210510E_3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAQ</a>, and <a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210510E_2.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supplemental data</a>. On 5 July, the Nikkei confirmed the proposal with a new <a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210705E_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guidebook</a>.</p>
<p>When I wrote about this on 10 May in <em><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/after-20yrs-nikkei-225-proposes-minor-impact-rule-changes-nintendo-disappointment" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:51277" rel="noopener">After 20yrs, Nikkei 225 Proposes Minor Impact Rule Changes (Nintendo Disappointment?)</a></em> I said I thought the changes disappointing. There are real problems with the index and this did not do much; <em>the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary</em>, with the only interesting change being that constituents are added with a weight no greater than 1%. If the normal price adjustment factor would allow a constituent to enter at a weight <em>greater</em> than 1%, the Price Adjustment Factor (base 1) is lowered in increments of 0.1 so that the deemed inclusion weight on Base Date (end of July) is no more than 1%. There is no change to the idea that the Nikkei Index Team can override their rankings at any time as they see fit.</p>
<p>Because the Nikkei Index Team had let the sector balances and rankings slide quite a bit over the years (not adding "obvious" names and not deleting names which should probably have been deleted, and not rebalancing the sectors as the rules say they should), the possibility was that some names like <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nintendo-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5415:1" rel="noopener">Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP)</a> and similar high-price-low-share-count names which "deserved" to be included were not simply because their very high price would create undue impact (it was undue impact and the lack of incremental float for high-weight low-share-count names which caused the BOJ to lower, then eventually cease their buying of Nikkei 225 ETFs). This rule on capping inclusions at 1% would go a ways to mitigating that problem so that would allow the Nikkei to add previously un-addable names. Expectations were high on a group of names, with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nintendo-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5415:1" rel="noopener">Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/keyence-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3077:1" rel="noopener">Keyence Corp (6861 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/zozo-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18379:1" rel="noopener">ZOZO Inc (3092 JP)</a>, and probably <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/oriental-land-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13517:1" rel="noopener">Oriental Land (4661 JP)</a>, with the latter two likely to create some real froth if actually selected. </p>
<h2>The Changes Announced</h2>
<p>Today after the close, the Nikkei Index Team announced the following changes to the Nikkei 225 Average as a result of the Annual Review:</p>
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<p>The changes will be made on the last trading day of September, at the close. I expect to see $10bn trade on that day.</p>
<p>The new rules allow the Nikkei Index team to not do a lot to the sector mix if the additions are made because of "High Liquidity" because while the sector mix would normally mean more than three deleted, the new rules cap changes at 3 per annual rebalance (which is not enough).</p>
<p>As noted above, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/zozo-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:18379:1" rel="noopener">ZOZO Inc (3092 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/oriental-land-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13517:1" rel="noopener">Oriental Land (4661 JP)</a> were among names which were expected as possible inclusions and therefore a certain amount of pre-positioning may be in place. They may get somewhat hurt tomorrow.</p>
<div class="content-highlight">
<p>There are a LOT of moving parts here. There are 3 ADDs, 3 DELETIONS, 1 Price Adjustment Factor moved sharply <em>higher</em> and one moved somewhat <em>lower</em> (a list of all the PAFs announced by the Nikkei is <a href="https://indexes.nikkei.co.jp/nkave/archives/news/20210906E_3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>), then there are another 220 stocks which will see selling on 30 September at the rebalance. </p>
</div>
<p>For more detailed analysis of the stocks, their positioning, how much to buy, etc, please read on.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>For more about passive tracking in Japan, please refer to <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-passive-who-owns-what-2021" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:55008" rel="noopener">JAPAN PASSIVE: Who Owns What 2021?</a> </em></p>

Every year (usually in the beginning of September), the Nikkei Inc Index team conducts an annual review of the major price-weighted Nikkei indices - the most important being the Nikkei 225 Average - and adds and subtracts constituents according to the Rules.
Today, they announced the 2021 version of the changes (announcement, PAF changes).
Below is Some Background. If you want to skip ahead to the juicy analysis, you can jump ahead to the Changes Announced section just below, and then more below the fold.
Some Background
The Nikkei 225, well-known globally as "the Nikkei" is a price-weighted index, originally started nearly 70 years ago as an average of a selected number of stocks listed on the TSE First Section. Later, it became 225 members. 
Because it is price-weighted, and because for a long time it made no divisor adjustments for stock splits (so when a stock split 2:1 its weight fell by half because price fell by half and trackers had to sell half their shares in that stock), and the price multiplier was determined by the par value of a company, then they later they started adjusting for splits, stocks which are old, never split, AND have a high price end up having a high weight in the index. 
There was a huge reshuffle in April 2000 when the Nikkei decided that the system needed rebalancing to include more tech, so they changed the Rules. They pushed 30 names out and 30 names in, and the 30 names added were 50% of the new index. 
Twenty one years after the prior change in methodology, this past May 10 the Nikkei Inc Index Team announced new changes to the Rules. There was a proposal, with an FAQ, and supplemental data. On 5 July, the Nikkei confirmed the proposal with a new Guidebook.
When I wrote about this on 10 May in After 20yrs, Nikkei 225 Proposes Minor Impact Rule Changes (Nintendo Disappointment?) I said I thought the changes disappointing. There are real problems with the index and this did not do much; the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, with the only interesting change being that constituents are added with a weight no greater than 1%. If the normal price adjustment factor would allow a constituent to enter at a weight greater than 1%, the Price Adjustment Factor (base 1) is lowered in increments of 0.1 so that the deemed inclusion weight on Base Date (end of July) is no more than 1%. There is no change to the idea that the Nikkei Index Team can override their rankings at any time as they see fit.
Because the Nikkei Index Team had let the sector balances and rankings slide quite a bit over the years (not adding "obvious" names and not deleting names which should probably have been deleted, and not rebalancing the sectors as the rules say they should), the possibility was that some names like Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP) and similar high-price-low-share-count names which "deserved" to be included were not simply because their very high price would create undue impact (it was undue impact and the lack of incremental float for high-weight low-share-count names which caused the BOJ to lower, then eventually cease their buying of Nikkei 225 ETFs). This rule on capping inclusions at 1% would go a ways to mitigating that problem so that would allow the Nikkei to add previously un-addable names. Expectations were high on a group of names, with Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP), Keyence Corp (6861 JP), ZOZO Inc (3092 JP), and probably Oriental Land (4661 JP), with the latter two likely to create some real froth if actually selected. 
The Changes Announced
Today after the close, the Nikkei Index Team announced the following changes to the Nikkei 225 Average as a result of the Annual Review:







The changes will be made on the last trading day of September, at the close. I expect to see $10bn trade on that day.
The new rules allow the Nikkei Index team to not do a lot to the sector mix if the additions are made because of "High Liquidity" because while the sector mix would normally mean more than three deleted, the new rules cap changes at 3 per annual rebalance (which is not enough).
As noted above, ZOZO Inc (3092 JP) and Oriental Land (4661 JP) were among names which were expected as possible inclusions and therefore a certain amount of pre-positioning may be in place. They may get somewhat hurt tomorrow.

There are a LOT of moving parts here. There are 3 ADDs, 3 DELETIONS, 1 Price Adjustment Factor moved sharply higher and one moved somewhat lower (a list of all the PAFs announced by the Nikkei is here), then there are another 220 stocks which will see selling on 30 September at the rebalance. 

For more detailed analysis of the stocks, their positioning, how much to buy, etc, please read on.

For more about passive tracking in Japan, please refer to JAPAN PASSIVE: Who Owns What 2021? 

2021 Nikkei 225 Rebalance: Nintendo, Murata, Keyence IN; Nisshinbo, Toyo Seikan, 'Skupper' OUT

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Index Rebalance

Toyo Seikan Group Holdings L / Index Rebalance

<p>Nikkei has just announced the changes to the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nikkei-225" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22909:1" rel="noopener">Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX)</a> as part of its periodic review. The changes will be made prior to the open of the market on 1 October, so passive funds will trade at the closing auction on 30 September.</p><p>There are 3 changes to the index with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/keyence-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:3077:1" rel="noopener">Keyence Corp (6861 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/murata-manufacturing-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11649:1" rel="noopener">Murata Manufacturing (6981 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nintendo-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5415:1" rel="noopener">Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP)</a> replacing <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nisshinbo-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10561:1" rel="noopener">Nisshinbo Holdings (3105 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toyo-seikan-group-holdings-l" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11858:1" rel="noopener">Toyo Seikan Group Holdings L (5901 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sky-perfect-jsat-holdings" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14097:1" rel="noopener">Sky Perfect Jsat (9412 JP)</a>.</p><p>While the inclusion of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nintendo-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:5415:1" rel="noopener">Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP)</a> and the deletion of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/sky-perfect-jsat-holdings" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:14097:1" rel="noopener">Sky Perfect Jsat (9412 JP)</a> was expected, the other names are relative surprises.</p><p>The impact on the inclusions is not very high in terms of days of ADV to buy and in terms of the real float to buy, but the impact on the deletions is a lot higher. The selling on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nisshinbo-holdings-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:10561:1" rel="noopener">Nisshinbo Holdings (3105 JP)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/toyo-seikan-group-holdings-l" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11858:1" rel="noopener">Toyo Seikan Group Holdings L (5901 JP)</a> will result in around 18% of the free float of the stock being sold and the stocks could drop a lot before investors start to get involved.</p><p>This is the first review post the market consultation that was announced in May and the conclusions of which were published in July.</p><p>As usual, Nikkei have ignored the sector balance that is spoken about so much in the index methodology. Apparently its easier to write the index methodology than to follow it!</p>

Nikkei has just announced the changes to the Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX) as part of its periodic review. The changes will be made prior to the open of the market on 1 October, so passive funds will trade at the closing auction on 30 September.There are 3 changes to the index with Keyence Corp (6861 JP), Murata Manufacturing (6981 JP) and Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP) replacing Nisshinbo Holdings (3105 JP), Toyo Seikan Group Holdings L (5901 JP) and Sky Perfect Jsat (9412 JP).While the inclusion of Nintendo Co Ltd (7974 JP) and the deletion of Sky Perfect Jsat (9412 JP) was expected, the other names are relative surprises.The impact on the inclusions is not very high in terms of days of ADV to buy and in terms of the real float to buy, but the impact on the deletions is a lot higher. The selling on Nisshinbo Holdings (3105 JP) and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings L (5901 JP) will result in around 18% of the free float of the stock being sold and the stocks could drop a lot before investors start to get involved.This is the first review post the market consultation that was announced in May and the conclusions of which were published in July.As usual, Nikkei have ignored the sector balance that is spoken about so much in the index methodology. Apparently its easier to write the index methodology than to follow it!

Nikkei 225 Index Rebalance: Nintendo, Keyence, Murata IN; Nisshinbo, Toyo Seikan, SKY Perfect OUT

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.

Equity Capital Markets

Activia Properties / Equity Capital Markets

<div><p><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/9498" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:9498:1" rel="noopener">Activia Properties Inc (3279 JP)</a>(API) plans to raise around US$200m/JPY22bn to fund the acquisition of three assets worth JPY44bn.</p></div><div>
<p>We have previously covered four other deals in the name: </p>
<ul><li>US$220m in Dec 2018, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-placement-time-for-the-annual-fund-raise-dpu-accretive-past-deals-did-well" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties Placement - Time for the Annual Fund Raise, DPU Accretive, past Deals Did Well</a>
</li></ul>
</div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>US$130m in Dec 2017, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-placement-back-again-in-just-over-a-year-past-deals-have-done-well" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties Placement - Back Again in Just over a Year, past Deals Have Done Well</a>
</li>
<li>US$270m in Nov 2016,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-back-for-the-annual-capital-raise-but-macro-might-not-be-supportive-this-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties - Back for the Annual Capital Raise but Macro Might Not Be Supportive This</a>, and</li>
<li>US$161m in Dec 2015,  <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/activia-properties-accretive-acquisition-should-add-to-the-previous-deals-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Activia Properties - Accretive Acquisition Should Add to the Previous Deals Record</a>.</li>
</ul></div><div><p>All the prior deals have done well over the short-term. In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the deal dynamics.</p></div>

Activia Properties Inc (3279 JP)(API) plans to raise around US$200m/JPY22bn to fund the acquisition of three assets worth JPY44bn.
We have previously covered four other deals in the name: 
US$220m in Dec 2018, Activia Properties Placement - Time for the Annual Fund Raise, DPU Accretive, past Deals Did Well


US$130m in Dec 2017, Activia Properties Placement - Back Again in Just over a Year, past Deals Have Done Well

US$270m in Nov 2016,  Activia Properties - Back for the Annual Capital Raise but Macro Might Not Be Supportive This, and
US$161m in Dec 2015,  Activia Properties - Accretive Acquisition Should Add to the Previous Deals Record.
All the prior deals have done well over the short-term. In this note, we will run the deal through our ECM framework and talk about the deal dynamics.

Activia Properties Placement - Accretive Deal but Comes with a Weak Backdrop

Japan

Nintendo Co., Ltd. globally develops, manufactures and sells home-use video game hardware and software in home entertainment business.  The company also produces home-game products including cards.

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Nintendo (7974 JP)

Not an Epic Ruling Against Apple

We examine developments in Epic's legal battle with Apple to identify potential long-term implications and winners and losers.

Mio Kato

Japan Stocks of Interest

Some stock names that look interesting in Japan on weakness or above breakout points. Nintendo, Oriental Land, Toshiba, NTT and McDonalds. A...

Thomas Schroeder

2021 Nikkei 225 Rebalance: Nintendo, Murata, Keyence IN; Nisshinbo, Toyo Seikan, 'Skupper' OUT

The Nikkei 225 Rebalance is here. A small surprise in the ADDs. No surprises on the DELETEs. A couple of housekeeping changes, and 600 baskets to...

Travis Lundy

Nikkei 225 Index Rebalance: Nintendo, Keyence, Murata IN; Nisshinbo, Toyo Seikan, SKY Perfect OUT

Nintendo, Murata & Keyence are into the Nikkei225 while Nisshinbo, Toyo Seikan & Sky Perfect are out. This trade will be more about the deletes...

Brian Freitas

Activia Properties Placement - Accretive Deal but Comes with a Weak Backdrop

Activia Properties Inc (3279 JP) plans to raise around US$200m/JPY22bn to fund the acquisition of three assets worth JPY44bn.

Sumeet Singh

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