Couldn't resist just one more -- from late January, 2000, near the peak of the frenzy; are we now living the fiasco or simply an extreme of negative sentiment?
The Weekly Post - Jan 24 - Jan 30, 2000
Brief Opinions On Issues:
Brisk Tokyo Stock Market Makes Japanese Salaried Men and Women Rich
According to reports from the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), stock purchases by private Japanese investors reached $375 billion last year, a record high for the past nine years. This accounted for 29 percent of the all stock transactions. The report also says that they earned more than $23 billion.
The Nikkei average has reached the 19,000-yen level, but when compared to the levels reached during the bubble economy – 38,915 yen, many people think it still has a long way to go.
During the one-year period ending January 4, the stocks of many companies made huge gains. Yahoo! stock is listed as the highest growth stock and achieved 43 times as high as a year ago. On January 19, Yahoo!'s stock price reached $1 million. The top 12 ranked stocks in the 30 most active stock list last year hiked more than 10 times. Other stocks on the list rose 6 times as high as a year ago.
The Japanese stock market is now creating millionaires overnight. In one case, a salaried man in his 50's purchased $200,000 in Yahoo! stock and gained an $8 million profit. "I didn't expect this amount of profit and I could not sleep because I was so excited," said he.
Mr. Kitahama, a stock market critic, said, "He is one of the students of my stock investment class. There are many students who made big profits. Some of them purchased NTT DoCoMo stocks and made $2 million on an investment of $500,000 in one year. They are saying that they don't have to worry about income and now work as volunteers." Many women have also made this kind of profit from stock investments.
It is a just dream for an ordinary salaried persons to save $100,000. Their lifetime salary is computed to be $2 million.
TWP reports here on some of the successful investors.
Case 1: Investment in information technology stocks
One president of a major corporation said to TWP, "In the early part of last year, I bought Softbank stock when it was priced at 7000 yen. When the stock hiked to 30,000, almost all my friends sold it. I waited. Now, it is 100,000 yen. I cannot say how much I invested. I expect that the stock will hit 300,000 yen. We have to be patient and courageous to wait."
Softbank owns Yahoo! Japan and their stock is a symbol of rising high tech stocks. Softbank's stock reached the 100,000-yen level on January 4, but reflecting the drop of Yahoo! stock on the US Nasdaq market, Softbank stock in Japan declined to 74,000 yen. This is the way high tech stocks behave.
A 35-year-old employee of a major food company said, "When I got my year-end bonus last year, I bought 100 shares of Softbank at 76,000 yen. In one week, it rose to 100,000 yen." He earned a 2.4 million yen profit during that week. "I will hold the stock until it hits 150,000 yen. If it happens, it will be as much as my annual salary."
Case 2: Over-the-Counter Market
There are stocks of venture firms that showed great performance in the over-the-counter market.
A 63-year-old self employed man said, "I bought 5000 shares of C2 Network Inc. in September, 1998 and invested 100,000 yen. Last year end, I was surprised that my investment increased to 160 million yen."
During the year ending January 4 this year, the Japanese over-the-counter stock market showed 3.2 times as much as a year ago. One foreign bank economist said, "There are many investors who tripled their investment up to now."
Case 3: Low-rated companies' stocks
A 67-year-old man who living on social security said, "Two years ago, I bought 200 shares of NTT Data Co. investing 12 million yen. When the stock showed a 10-percent gain, I sold them all. I regret it because the stock soared after that,
"Then, I bought low-rated companies' stocks last year including three security houses' stocks. Their stocks seemed to be low at that time. Then, as expected, these stocks started rising and I gained 10 million yen."
Case 4: Online trading and women investors
Mr. Motohisa of Matsui Security said, "The number of online women investors is growing very rapidly. Our company's statistics indicate that there are more women who are making profit through online trading than men."
Mr. Kitahama said, "Women investors are increasing in my class. They have a better sense when it comes to investments. Men move slowly until they find proof of making a profit. They often miss investment opportunities. However, women are quick to make decisions. Timing is very important when investing. There is a working woman in her 30s who made 10 million yen through online trading."
Case 5: Organizing an investment group
There are increasing number of investor groups. One example is the 'Sunrise Club.' One member of the club said, "We have 10 members and each member gets information from investment bankers. We invested in stocks of six companies. We are making 25-percent return. We want to grow as a group."
Case 6: Investment trust fund
One investment bank sales man said about a 48-year-old working woman investor, "She has been investing in investment trust funds which involve steady return of stock investment and investment in dollar. I recommended one investment trust fund, the 'JF over-the-counter open.' She invested three million yen, and received seven-million-yen profit."
There are many other investment trust funds which generated good returns last year including funds such as JF over-the-counter open, Columbus open of Sanyo Trust Fund MG Angel Fund of German Asset Management.
One major investment house's sales person said, "Private investors are encouraged to invest in stocks. Many of them are making profits, particularly salaried men. Unless they buy stocks, they will never know the stock market. There is no way to make perfect investments in stocks. Unless they take risk, they will never know how to make profit from stock investments. Only risk-taking people can be winners."
Mr. Ueki, a stock analyst said, "It is expected that the number of private investors will grow. The silver generation – people older than 60 years old – will begin making stock investments. Most of them have never gotten invo9lved with the stock market. More than half of the rich people in Japan are people in their 60s. They are now learning about stock investments,
"The danger for the Japanese stock market is the liberalization of IPO standards. Many high tech ventures will go public, but only a handful of them will succeed. The Japanese Nasdaq market will be rough. These investors must be careful. If they fail, there will be a fiasco." |
