'Quantamental' Japan Specialist, LightStream Research

Campbell Gunn

'Quantamental' Japan Specialist

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.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

• THE POST-COVID ROTATION •<section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/191/288/original/2021-02-28_08-38-14.png?1614469105" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="191288"></figure><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/191/290/original/2021-02-28_08-57-32.png?1614470265" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="191290"></figure></section></section><section class="figure"><div style="text-align: center;" class="content-caption"> Source for all charts &amp; tables: Japan Analytics</div></section>THE 2021 ROTATION ACCELERATES - As we noted in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/japan-the-post-covid-rotation-from-growth-to-value-begins-02-05-results-revisions-update" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:47877" rel="noopener">The Post-COVID Rotation from Growth to Value Begins</a>, the Japanese equity market has been led by overvalued and overvalued for most of the last year overbought high-quality growth companies in the Technology Hardware, Electrical Equipment, Internet, and Healthcare Sectors. These companies were deemed to be 'COVID-resistant' and were consistently well-bid regardless of price. The stocks leading this 'charge' were <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/m3-inc" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13316:1" rel="noopener">M3 (2413 JP),</a><a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/lasertec-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4126:1" rel="noopener">Lasertec (6920 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/monotaro-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:15441:1" rel="noopener">MonotaRO (3064 JP)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/chugai-pharmaceutical-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:4489:1" rel="noopener">Chugai Pharmaceutical (4519 JP)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/nidec-corp" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:7245:1" rel="noopener">Nidec (6594 JP)</a>, while the only cyclical Sector that has seen a major recovery was Energy. Meanwhile, shares in domestically-orientated Sectors and companies heavily exposed to COVID-related delines in business activity languished despite valuations reaching ten or twenty-year lows. PEAKED? - Over the last twenty trading days during which TOPIX reached 1,974.99. 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> breached 30,000, many of these market leaders have seen a significant correction, while the market has rotated into domestic, cyclical, and financial Sectors - as illustrated by our Sector Relative Price Score timelines in the chart above. In the DETAIL Section below, we will review the current market technicals after Friday's 4% N225 decline and look at the leading stocks on both 'sides' of this rotation trade.

• THE POST-COVID ROTATION • Source for all charts &amp; tables: Japan AnalyticsTHE 2021 ROTATION ACCELERATES - As we noted in The Post-COVID Rotation from Growth to Value Begins, the Japanese equity market has been led by overvalued and overvalued for most of the last year overbought high-quality growth companies in the Technology Hardware, Electrical Equipment, Internet, and Healthcare Sectors. These companies were deemed to be 'COVID-resistant' and were consistently well-bid regardless of price. The stocks leading this 'charge' were M3 (2413 JP),Lasertec (6920 JP), MonotaRO (3064 JP), Chugai Pharmaceutical (4519 JP), and Nidec (6594 JP), while the only cyclical Sector that has seen a major recovery was Energy. Meanwhile, shares in domestically-orientated Sectors and companies heavily exposed to COVID-related delines in business activity languished despite valuations reaching ten or twenty-year lows. PEAKED? - Over the last twenty trading days during which TOPIX reached 1,974.99. The Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX) breached 30,000, many of these market leaders have seen a significant correction, while the market has rotated into domestic, cyclical, and financial Sectors - as illustrated by our Sector Relative Price Score timelines in the chart above. In the DETAIL Section below, we will review the current market technicals after Friday's 4% N225 decline and look at the leading stocks on both 'sides' of this rotation trade.

🇯🇵 JAPAN • The Post-COVID Rotation Accelerates

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

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Quantitative Analysis

The China equity index futures market has come a long way since index futures started to trade on the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shanghai-shenzhen-csi-300-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22906:1" rel="noopener">Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300 INDEX)</a> in 2010. There have been booms and busts, volumes and open interest have soared and plummeted, rules have been relaxed and tightened and relaxed again, and the market continues to move forward.Currently, index futures trade on the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shanghai-shenzhen-csi-300-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22906:1" rel="noopener">Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300 INDEX)</a>, the CSI500 Index, and the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shanghai-stock-exchange-sse-50-a-share-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:31073:1" rel="noopener">SSE50 Index (SSE50 INDEX)</a>. There are no published statistics on the share of volume and open interest held by institutional and non-institutional investors, so we take a stab at trying to figure out broadly what it could be.Our analysis indicates that till mid 2015, most of the volume traded was driven by retail investors and they held a lions share of open interest too. Post the market crash and subsequent resurgence, retail investors share of volume traded and open interest has likely dropped substantially due to the market entry of more institutional investors, proprietary trading shops, and quant traders. Strategies employed by non-institutional investors mainly run counter to the retail flow and that has dampened the futures basis in the recent past.

The China equity index futures market has come a long way since index futures started to trade on the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300 INDEX) in 2010. There have been booms and busts, volumes and open interest have soared and plummeted, rules have been relaxed and tightened and relaxed again, and the market continues to move forward.Currently, index futures trade on the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300 INDEX), the CSI500 Index, and the SSE50 Index (SSE50 INDEX). There are no published statistics on the share of volume and open interest held by institutional and non-institutional investors, so we take a stab at trying to figure out broadly what it could be.Our analysis indicates that till mid 2015, most of the volume traded was driven by retail investors and they held a lions share of open interest too. Post the market crash and subsequent resurgence, retail investors share of volume traded and open interest has likely dropped substantially due to the market entry of more institutional investors, proprietary trading shops, and quant traders. Strategies employed by non-institutional investors mainly run counter to the retail flow and that has dampened the futures basis in the recent past.

China Equity Index Futures: Who Holds the Open Interest?

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

Korea Stock Exchange KOSPI 200 / Technical Analysis

We are initiating a Korea long to pair with our Singapore short established at 2,950 and outline fresh long support/trade levels for the Nikkei. Downside risk input stems from the SPX fade zone at the topside of the rising wedge (risk of a dip and rally into late February is our base case for the US).Worth noting that Korea displays a compelling bull wedge while Singapore a lower degree micro bear flag formation. Singapore has been our favored short vehicle from the 3,000 top zone in January.

We are initiating a Korea long to pair with our Singapore short established at 2,950 and outline fresh long support/trade levels for the Nikkei. Downside risk input stems from the SPX fade zone at the topside of the rising wedge (risk of a dip and rally into late February is our base case for the US).Worth noting that Korea displays a compelling bull wedge while Singapore a lower degree micro bear flag formation. Singapore has been our favored short vehicle from the 3,000 top zone in January.

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Major global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EM, and EAFE) continue to trend higher and are devoid of bearish inflections. Additionally, the US dollar (DXY) is likely headed lower, something we view as a positive risk-on signal for global equities. As a result, we remain bullish and we continue to recommend adding exposure on pullbacks.

Major global indexes (MSCI ACWI, ACWI ex-US, EM, and EAFE) continue to trend higher and are devoid of bearish inflections. Additionally, the US dollar (DXY) is likely headed lower, something we view as a positive risk-on signal for global equities. As a result, we remain bullish and we continue to recommend adding exposure on pullbacks.

Japan Breaking Out; EM Remains Leadership

Founder & Chief Market Strategist - SAV Markets, SAV Markets

Shyam Devani

Founder & Chief Market Strategist - SAV Markets

Cross Asset Strategy

Earlier this month a note titled <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/the-pain-and-the-gain-in-equities-and-fx" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:47142" rel="noopener">The Pain and the Gain in Equities and FX</a> was shared on SmartKarma trying to highlight the short term risks in these markets. In that note it was concluded that one should “look out for opportunities to re-engage in equity markets anywhere between 5%-10% below current levels. Similarly expect signals to short the USD again over the weeks ahead.”
As we now appear to be in the middle of this correction down in many equity indices, the following note attempts to highlight key support zones for major indices around the world in preparation for re-engaging in markets for a longer lasting and more underlying bull trend.

Earlier this month a note titled The Pain and the Gain in Equities and FX was shared on SmartKarma trying to highlight the short term risks in these markets. In that note it was concluded that one should “look out for opportunities to re-engage in equity markets anywhere between 5%-10% below current levels. Similarly expect signals to short the USD again over the weeks ahead.”
As we now appear to be in the middle of this correction down in many equity indices, the following note attempts to highlight key support zones for major indices around the world in preparation for re-engaging in markets for a longer lasting and more underlying bull trend. 

Where to Prepare for the 'Gain' in Equities

Japan

The Nikkei-225 Stock Average is a price-weighted average of 225 top-rated Japanese companies listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Nikkei Stock Average was first published on May 16, 1949, where the average price was ¥176.21 with a divisor of 225. 

Nikkei 225 (NKY INDEX)

🇯🇵 JAPAN • The Post-COVID Rotation Accelerates

Over the last 20 trading days during which TOPIX reached 1,974.99, many market leaders have seen a significant correction, and there has been a...

Campbell Gunn

China Equity Index Futures: Who Holds the Open Interest?

We look at the change in the market landscape for the index futures in China and try to ascertain if retail investors still hold sway or if that...

Brian Freitas

Korea Long/Singapore Short

We are initiating a Korea long (bull break of wedge) to pair with our Singapore short established at 2,950 and outline fresh long support/trade...

Thomas Schroeder

Japan Breaking Out; EM Remains Leadership

Major global indexes continue to trend higher and are devoid of bearish inflections. As a result, we remain bullish and we continue to recommend...

Vermilion Research

Where to Prepare for the 'Gain' in Equities

As we correct down in many equity indices, this note attempts to identify levels where markets are likely to be supported

Shyam Devani