These Charts Indicate Calm Has Returned to Japan’s Stock Market

  • Volumes, technicals back in normal ranges; volatility off peak
  • Recovery may only be ‘W-shaped’: JPMorgan Asset Management
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
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After bouts of panic selling in March followed by a sharp rebound, trading of Japanese equities has returned to a range that almost looked like normal again.

Volumes, volatility levels and technical indicators have all backed off from extremes. The benchmark Topix index is up more than 14% from its March 16 low, though still 19% below its Dec. 17 high. The tentative recovery was helped by signs of slower growth in global coronavirus infections, but further gains will depend on whether or not there’s a second major round of cases and how fast economic activities resume, said Shogo Maekawa, a strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management Ltd.