All,

I've heard a lot of people talking about investing in Germany, Japan and the stock market. How would one go about doing this and getting the facts about what is the best way to do this?

I'm no financial whizz, so any suggestions would be welcomed!

Ta!

Ozz

Buy an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) or a fund listed on the London stock markets but invested in you target. For example I am in Japan via BGFD. Use etrade or similar. Be aware that it can be volatile, you are exposed to currency risk as well as the performance of the fund.

Guess I'll need to google Exchange Traded Fun and BGFD cos never heard of them before. Thanks for the heads up!

For Japanese Investment Trusts a good place to start is here

http://www.trustnet.co.uk/it/funds/perf.as...submitbutton=Go

There are no UK quoted ITs purely for Germany unfortunately but these are general European ITs

http://www.trustnet.co.uk/it/funds/perf.as...submitbutton=Go

I use http://www.iwebsharedealing.co.uk/ for trading individual European Stocks (and ITs) .

Japan seems to be on a roll at the moment especially the Banks and retail so perhaps pick an IT with exposure to those sectors http://www.trustnet.co.uk/it/funds/?fund=49529 Martin Currie Japan Investment Trust
may fill the bill with around 50% in those two sectors.

Germany is due for a bit of consolidation (but I've thought that for a week or two and it hasn't happened) and there's now some doubt that Angela Merkel will be as clear a winner as was thought, which isn't good for the market.

You say "I'm no financial whizz" - Welcome to the club

Edit - Sorry the individual links to trustnet have changed and you'll now have to select Japan or Europe by selecting within the 'all regions' drop down box from the bar at the top!

Comment on the Japanese market in the FT this A.M.

It's restricted so I can only post a snippet

"Lex: Japanese economy

Last updated: August 12 2005 19:27

Japan's star is firmly in the ascendant. Companies are hiring and producing more. Even better, workers are starting to spend their wages..........
Investors are lapping this up. Funds have been pouring into Japan, .........

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/e5c12678-0b14-11d...000e2511c8.html

My Japan fund's done great, up 15% in the last month. Time to sell??

Nice problem but a difficult call. I can't offer any advice, all I can say is that I'm keeping mine and hoping for the index to touch 1500+ in the medium term (might have a problem getting through 1300 first though).

Most of the current rise is due to international money flowing in but the locals haven't kicked in yet, so I'm told. They tend to be very much momentum investors so if they do come in it could move like the proverbial rocket (I can dream anyway ).

Inertia is keeping me in for now, hoping for a positive outcome of the election. On the other hand perhaps sell and go back in a little later to crystallise the gain for capital gains tax purposes. Tricky but better than sitting on a loss. Still it's not done as well as the ftse over a one year period.

Japan has historical been prone to peaky cycles.

Lex: Japan
Published: August 26 2005 13:24 | Last updated: August 26 2005 13:24

Japan is squeezing deflation out of its system, providing more fuel for bullish investors.


Consumer prices, excluding fresh produce, dipped just 0.2 per cent in the year to July. Stripping out more volatile components, including medical and oil-related goods, the core CPI has been stable for months. That tallies with rising wages, which are increasing faster than in seven years, falling unemployment and more job vacancies. Consequently, consumers are piling into the shops with renewed confidence, sending retail sales up some 3 per cent.


The next step in Japan's recovery now looks tantalisingly close. Sustained price rises are the trigger for the Bank of Japan to end its policy of flooding the banking system with liquidity and to raise interest rates above zero. That returns Japan to an era of normality and sets the stage for the country's notoriously cautious savers to switch their deposits into risk-weighted assets.


Before that happens, however, the core CPI must turn positive and stay there. Later this year, base comparisons for rice and telecoms charges pass out of the equation. That should be enough to lift price changes above zero, assuming that expensive oil continues to push transport and other related costs higher. The narrowing output gap should help sustain inflation; a big reduction in overcapacity and a tight labour market leave less room for absorbing price rises. Risks remain, but the end of deflation looks within sight.


I've a large proportion of my dosh in Japan and Germany (along with a few Oilies) - so fingers crossed that the Axis powers recover!

I recently re-aligned my pension portfolio (total of just under 20k -- crap I know). I put a fair wodge into Japan and "European" funds. Annoying thing about the European funds is they include bubble countries like Spain as well as the solidly cyclical (I hope) Germany.

It just feels right that the axis powers are back in the game. I mean in the 80s when I was a kid they were like the economic wunderkinder. Terrible time they've had over the last decade or so, but if you think about it, all that productivity, engineering skill etc. doesn't just go away, it lies dormant like a shrivelled up seed pod, waiting for the next inundation of international capital to flood in...

Thoughts anyone?

frugalista

edit: typo

Yes this is very irritating. I have looked in vain for a fund that excludes property bubble countries, has less France and more Germany, and a dash of 'new' Europe. I haven't found it yet.. though I quite like the look of the Ruffer European fund.

Baring German Growth is one.
Also check the Emerging Europe funds as that eliminates most western European stocks.

I currently have Jupiter Emerging European Opportunities (mostly Russia), which is a bit of a rollercoaster but - currently - is nicely positive.

That Jupiter interests me too, but not sure I have the the stomach for the lows..
Will have a look at that Barings one.

What I want is an ETF or Investment Trust listed on the LSE or even Euronext Paris (I have a bank account there) so I can buy or sell cheaply on the internet. London (supposedly the world's most developed trading centre) offers plenty of ETFs for Europe as a whole, Japan etc but not Germany or even central Europe (although there are emerging Europe funds.

Any ideas?

Attached is a listing of ETF listed in London for convenience.

Having lived (and worked industry) for two years each in France and Germany I know which I would back - I'm with you. The French are good engineers but poor managers and their politicians are craven populists. They have not begun to confront their problems, whereas in Germany the reforms are well underway beneath the surface (labour rates falling, productivity rising). And progressively I think the EU will be less than happy to subsidise the French and their old-fashioned protectionism.

This news ought to be good for those already into the Japanese market.

Report: Japan's Ruling Party Wins at Polls

Sunday September 11, 2005 1:01 PM

TOKYO (AP) - Exit polls showed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party heading for a landslide victory in elections on Sunday for parliament's lower house, local media reported

Public broadcaster NHK and several other networks said exit polls indicated a big victory for the Liberal Democrats, easily winning a majority of the powerful house's 480 seats. ...<snip>
....Koizumi says he will try again to pass the postal reform, arguing that putting Japan Post's massive $3 billion in assets into private hands would provide for more efficient use of capital and help jump-start the economy.

It was!