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To: Don Green who wrote (23838)	8/25/1999 7:35:00 PM
From: pater tenebrarum	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 99985

Don, see peicommerce.com , lower right hand corner, for Japan's 'big bang' time table. clearly, the Japanese market is very interesting from a longer term perspective. a staggering amount of postal savings comes due this year and only about 9% of the population are currently participating in the stock market. this suggests there is a lot of fuel for the market once it starts climbing in earnest. regards, hb

To: Don Green who wrote (23838)	8/25/1999 7:39:00 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 99985

Rising Yen Spurs Growing Confidence 07:12 AM ET 08/25/99 Rising Yen Spurs Growing Confidence By TODD ZAUN= Associated Press Write TOKYO (AP) _ A mighty yen seems less scary to Japan than it did just two months ago. At that time, a rising currency was seen as the biggest threat to the sluggish Japanese economy because of the toll it could take on exporters' earnings. Any surge in the yen sent financial authorities scrambling to rein it in. But as the yen appreciated against the dollar this week to its highest level in seven months, officials have mostly just stood by. What's changed? It's finally starting to look like the economy's really back on track. Big investors are lining up to get into Japan's stock market. And the jump in demand for stocks has generated demand for yen. Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa summed up the shift on a morning talk show Sunday. ''Japan's economy is getting better, leading to the purchase of Japanese stocks, and the yen is needed to buy stocks,'' he said. Although the U.S. dollar rebounded somewhat today, winding up at 111.32 yen in Tokyo from a low of 110.40 yen earlier in the day, the yen is still up more than 10 percent against the dollar over the last three months. Japan's economy emerged from its longest postwar recession in the first quarter of this year, shooting ahead a surprising 1.9 percent after a year and a half in the doldrums. Many economists initially said the report overstated the strength of the economy, but more encouraging indicators since then have led the analysts to raise their forecasts. ''We are getting more positive surprises than negative ones and it's leading people to believe that this is a real recovery,'' said Kenneth Landon, senior currency strategist at Deutsche Bank in Tokyo. Investors, it seems, were never worried. Their optimism has fed a powerful stock market rally, driving the Nikkei 225 Stock Average up 26.1 percent in the last six months. But a surging yen still takes a bite out of exporters' profits, forcing them to either accept less when their overseas earnings are converted into yen. The higher yen also means their goods cost more in other countries, making it harder for them to be price competitive. Sony Corp., for example, reported last month that net profits dropped 55 percent in the April-to-June quarter mostly because of the yen's strength. But exports account for only about 12 percent of the economy and economists say other industries are now improving too. A few years ago, the rising yen ''would have been devastating, but now we are just at the cusp of a big turn-up for the economy,'' Landon said. ''As long as the overall economy is strong, that will more than offset the negative impact of the strong yen.'' And while financial authorities say there has been no change in policy, their actions, or lack thereof, show they too are less concerned. After intervening aggressively in currency markets early this summer to contain the yen's advance, Japanese officials stepped aside in August. Still, most analysts doubt the yen can rise much farther without provoking Japanese authorities into action. Economists estimate the point at which most exporters turn from profit to loss is probably around 107 yen to 110 yen. ''At some point someone is going to start screaming 'uncle' and politicians are going to get involved,'' said Ron Bevacqua, an economist with Commerz Securities.