The first quarter has been a mixed bag for Asia’s major markets, with last year’s star performer turning into this year’s laggard in a sharp reversal of fortune.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 is the region’s worst-performing market, down over 10 percent year-to-date following stellar gains of 57 percent in 2013, on growing concerns the government may not to deliver on its promise to put the economy on a sustainable growth path.
Foreign investors sold a net 1.84 trillion yen ($18.1 billion) of Japanese stocks in the year to mid-March, reversing from 2013 when they bought a record 15.1 trillion yen, according to Reuters.
