The rand is big in Japan right now
‘Japanese retail investors tend to be contrarians, typically entering to buy on dips’
Singapore/Tokyo — The lira’s loss is the rand’s gain. Japan’s retail investors are boosting holdings of South Africa’s currency at the fastest pace since 2009, while cutting foreign-exchange exposure in Turkey. Individual investors from the Asian nation raised their net rand long position against the yen for five straight months to end-June, according to data from Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc. They have been reducing their net lira positioning for four months. "Japanese investors who cut losses in the lira could have shifted to the rand, given the better political situation [in SA]," said Koji Fukaya, CEO of FPG Securities in Tokyo. "Emerging-market currencies haven’t been performing well, but Japanese investors have been seeking opportunities to take exposures in high yielders and hold them." The dollar’s surge and global trade tensions have saddled emerging-market investors with losses this year. A Bloomberg currency index measuring carry-trade returns from eight developing market...
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