Japan is known for its interesting culture. With its unique style in arts, foods and people, the country has transcended into a superpower nation in the world. More importantly, it has reached a status as the third largest economy next to US and its Asian neighbor, China.
With a long list of factors driving its economy in higher peak, Japan’s wealth and health also draw major steer from its own stock market, the Tokyo Stock Exchange
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Strange Atmosphere
The Tokyo Stock Exchange, also known as the Tosho or the TSE, ranks fourth as the largest stock exchange in the world in terms of the total capitalization in its listed companies. As of April 2015, Tosho had listed exactly 2292 companies which equivalent to a US$4.09 trillion aggregate market capitalization.
But just when everybody thought that the TSE was just like other common market, being one of the most closely watched and influential in the world, Japan’s stock exchange exercised a profoundly strange process of running its own market.
Unlike any other stock exchanges across the world, TSE is still run mostly by Japanese rules, which gives Americans and Europeans a scratch in their head due to due to sheer frustrations in interpreting it with the standard analytical measure.
A British general manager of research from the Kleinwort Benson International even said “all assumptions we have about stock markets do not fit this stock market.”
Major Boost
Japan’s giant economy will always be thankful to its Tokyo Stock Exchange. Over the years, it has helped the country sustained its economy by helping private business to allocate resources and steer public sector.
TSE reached its highest peak back in December 29, 1989 when it touched the 38 915 level. Fast forward to more than 25 years, it has not come close to that level.
This year, the benchmark made a slight gain of just 0.5% as the country push through reforms on its taxes and government spending, following the weakening of the yen against the dollar.
But Japan has still high hopes on its stock exchange as key driver to boost profits and keep stocks prices moving higher through the combination of weaker yen and less restrictive fiscal policy.