Buybacks Turn SoftBank, Others Into Whales of Japan’s Stock Market
- Share buybacks by firms seen topping 7 trillion yen this FY
- Japan’s stock market has underperformed global peers in 2021
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A rising trend of share buybacks has made corporates the real whales of the Japanese stock market as the central bank continues to step back from its asset purchase program.
Total share buybacks by Japanese companies are on track to top 7 trillion yen ($61.3 billion) this fiscal year, a near 50% increase from the previous one, according to Tokai Tokyo Research Institute market analyst Makoto Sengoku. That’s more than the Bank of Japan’s old 6 trillion yen guide for annual exchange-traded-fund purchases, a target that was scrapped earlier this year.