Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Quantitative Analysis

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<p>The BOJ's buying of ETFs continues but the pace has slowed in recent months. This does not mean we don't get ETF news, comments, etc. </p>
<p>BOJ Governor Kuroda was in front of parliament a week ago and talked about the BOJ's ETF-buying programmes. There are questions from former BOJ executives out in the wild about what the BOJ will do to a) stop buying, b) reduce its holdings in ETFs, etc. </p>
<p>Mr Kuroda was quite clear with his answer. From a Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/japan-economy-kuroda-etf-idUST9N2GT02I" target="_blank" rel="noopener">note</a> last week...</p>
</div><div><blockquote>
<p>The BOJ already buys ETFs “quite flexibly” and can reduce purchases when the market risk premium is not rising, Kuroda told parliament.</p>
<p>“If inflation hits our 2% target and an exit from our massive stimulus programme comes into sight, there will certainly be debate on how to end our ETF buying. But it’s premature to do so at this stage.”</p>
</blockquote></div><div>The proof is in the pudding.</div><div></div><div>Historically, the pattern based on analysis of the data was that if the AM session close of the market was lower than the previous full-day close, the BOJ would be in buying in the PM session. First it was when the market was down more than 100bp. Then it was 50bp. Then 25bp, then even when it was down at all. </div><div></div><div>
<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/173/908/original/Screenshot%202020-11-25%20at%2012.09.11%20PM.png?1606277380" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="173908"></figure></section><p>As the chart shows, the rolling 3mo and 6mo purchase total annualises out to ¥4.5 trillion and ¥5.0 trillion, respectively.  The BOJ has substantially lowered how much it is buying, mostly because the market is well-behaved. The buying they did the few times they were involved in January and February was ¥70bn a day. When risk went bad in March, they upped it to ¥100bn, then ¥120bn, and by mid-March had lifted the annual total limit to ¥11.7trln, buying ¥200bn on many days, and effectively in April, there were only two days where the market fell in the morning session and the BOJ was not in buying. Things looked up in markets as they were looking down fundamentally and the BOJ lowered its involvement as the risk premium wasn't rising when earnings projections were falling sharply. </p>
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<p>However, I expect this lull is temporary. They are effectively building up a very large buffer so they can go in at a higher rate when necessary. With the market up 12% month-to-date, and US stocks seemingly on a tear of vaccine-related hope, and month-end globally looking very much like a sell of stocks to buy bonds from an allocator or risk-parity perspective, they may be back in before you think. </p>
<p>More discussion below the fold. </p>
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The BOJ's buying of ETFs continues but the pace has slowed in recent months. This does not mean we don't get ETF news, comments, etc. 
BOJ Governor Kuroda was in front of parliament a week ago and talked about the BOJ's ETF-buying programmes. There are questions from former BOJ executives out in the wild about what the BOJ will do to a) stop buying, b) reduce its holdings in ETFs, etc. 
Mr Kuroda was quite clear with his answer. From a Reuters note last week...

The BOJ already buys ETFs “quite flexibly” and can reduce purchases when the market risk premium is not rising, Kuroda told parliament.
“If inflation hits our 2% target and an exit from our massive stimulus programme comes into sight, there will certainly be debate on how to end our ETF buying. But it’s premature to do so at this stage.”
The proof is in the pudding.Historically, the pattern based on analysis of the data was that if the AM session close of the market was lower than the previous full-day close, the BOJ would be in buying in the PM session. First it was when the market was down more than 100bp. Then it was 50bp. Then 25bp, then even when it was down at all. 
As the chart shows, the rolling 3mo and 6mo purchase total annualises out to ¥4.5 trillion and ¥5.0 trillion, respectively.  The BOJ has substantially lowered how much it is buying, mostly because the market is well-behaved. The buying they did the few times they were involved in January and February was ¥70bn a day. When risk went bad in March, they upped it to ¥100bn, then ¥120bn, and by mid-March had lifted the annual total limit to ¥11.7trln, buying ¥200bn on many days, and effectively in April, there were only two days where the market fell in the morning session and the BOJ was not in buying. Things looked up in markets as they were looking down fundamentally and the BOJ lowered its involvement as the risk premium wasn't rising when earnings projections were falling sharply. 

However, I expect this lull is temporary. They are effectively building up a very large buffer so they can go in at a higher rate when necessary. With the market up 12% month-to-date, and US stocks seemingly on a tear of vaccine-related hope, and month-end globally looking very much like a sell of stocks to buy bonds from an allocator or risk-parity perspective, they may be back in before you think. 
More discussion below the fold. 



JAPAN FLOW:  BOJ ETF Exit Fretting Is A Thing But Shouldn't Be. BOJ Buys Slower But Still Bigly

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JAPAN FLOW: BOJ ETF Exit Fretting Is A Thing But Shouldn't Be. BOJ Buys Slower But Still Bigly

The BOJ is still buying, and Kuroda-san says it will continue, despite a new wave of questions about the policy, and eventual exiting. Exit is...

Travis Lundy

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