Nikkei 225 pre-trading about 4% down.

sabretoothtigger

unusual yep only usual if you are used to doing the opposite of everyone else which can work if somehow they are all wrong

jimjames

optimusf wrote: »

Hey Reaper

Thank you very much for the useful information provided.

But im looking to buy individual shares as oppose to tracker or a fund. Im just finding the costs rather confusing.....

Soory to diagress from the topic, but ive been meaning to get my hand in the stock market, and i thought investment in the NIKKEI would be fortuitous....

I'd echo previous comments. If you have no existing stock market investments then starting with an investment in individual Japanese stocks would not normally be considered a good place to start. Even managers with experience in Japan have struggled to make any money over the last 20 years so an individual without the backup or local knowledge and high trading costs is likely to struggle even more. You would also then have a very unbalanced portfolio.

I'd expect the drops to continue further so now isn't necessarily the best time to buy. If nuclear material spreads then contamination could render nearby areas uninhabitable for some time.

Rolling power cuts and the destruction of such large areas could well affect production significantly even in areas not affected by the earthquake.

I would say that it could be a good opportunity to buy into other markets though. FTSE is down about 8% over last few weeks which gives a lower price to stock up.

optimusf_2

Does anyone know from recommendation which is the best/ cheaper way of buying shares in the uk?...

Reaper

jimjames wrote: »

I would say that it could be a good opportunity to buy into other markets though. FTSE is down about 8% over last few weeks which gives a lower price to stock up.

That's a much better idea. People seem to be exiting equities worldwide for no very good reason. I exited silver a few days ago as I felt the price had become irrational, a FTSE tracker is not a bad idea for the money freed up. I'll give it some thought.

edinburgher

That's a much better idea. People seem to be exiting equities worldwide for no very good reason. I exited silver a few days ago as I felt the price had become irrational, a FTSE tracker is not a bad idea for the money freed up. I'll give it some thought.

I'm with you on this one Reaper - I was initially thinking 'how do I free up £1k to stick into a Japan fund?' until I thought about things a bit more rationally and decided to use the dip as a chance to purchase top-ups for some of my more successful existing holdings at a far more reasonable £250 a pop. Will be good to get a bit more stashed in the ISA before the end of the year, but I'm not made of money

Reaper

optimusf wrote: »

Does anyone know from recommendation which is the best/ cheaper way of buying shares in the uk?...

For UK quoted shares I told you some places to try in an earlier post I]EDIT: Actually I was talking about trackers previously so you may not have realised they were stock brokers[/I. Here they are:
X-O for no-frills real time trading.
iii for even cheaper but non-real time trading.

There are other good choices out there, but you won't go far wrong with those.

No good for foreign shares though.

moneylover

Reaper wrote: »

Since posting I have found an ETF tracker that includes currency hedging (though with the Euro rather than sterling) which I might consider if do decide to invest. It's the iShares MSCI Japan Hedged.

Whatever you do remember high risk investments ought to make up only a very small part of your total.

Could this be bought through any of the sources you mentioned in earlier post?

Reaper

moneylover wrote: »

Could this be bought through any of the sources you mentioned in earlier post?

Yes. It can even go in a S&S ISA if you want. However I did just look it up in X-O and the ticker seems to be different with 2 of the letters reversed round. To be sure locate it using the SEDOL number instead if using X-O. It's B42Z5J4.

Though as posted above I am going off the idea in favour of investing in a non-Japanese index that has fallen such as the FTSE instead.

jimjames

edinburgher wrote: »

I'm with you on this one Reaper - I was initially thinking 'how do I free up £1k to stick into a Japan fund?' until I thought about things a bit more rationally and decided to use the dip as a chance to purchase top-ups for some of my more successful existing holdings at a far more reasonable £250 a pop. Will be good to get a bit more stashed in the ISA before the end of the year, but I'm not made of money

I've just topped up the final £2K today into my ISA for this year. Put £500 into a UK fund and will consider the rest in the next few days. Quite a bonus that the UK market dropped a reasonable amount at the end of the ISA season although stock market drops might put some people off. Always seems strange to me that, when in every other situation the price drops and everyone piles in when it relates to shares people sell or are wary of buying on dips!

Just received an IC email which tends to reinterate what has been said, namely "on that basis, the pullback in UK and other markets and the knee-jerk flight from risk assets is potentially shaping a useful buying opportunity here."

http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/community/view?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&userId=84e13729-775a-4df7-a6d2-ab0bed4db9da&plckPostId=Blog:84e13729-775a-4df7-a6d2-ab0bed4db9daPost:88592622-d773-4758-a647-82930a368481&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest

ses6jwg

im watching the markets carefully and will wade into a ftse all share tracker if hits 5500