When the Tokyo Stock Exchange reopened on Wednesday for the first trading session of 2017, Japan as a whole entered its fifth year of “Abenomics” — the economic revival programme that, depending on taste, has either sputtered predictably or provided investable vigour to an otherwise enfeebled Japan story.
Whether, by the end of this year, Abenomics remains a relevant force — or even a word people still bother to use — may depend heavily upon the performance of the Nikkei 225 Average over the next six weeks.
Survive those without the same huge dip that savaged the benchmark between the first trading session of January and mid-February last year, say analysts, and we may be looking at a market with enough foreign buying and other support to sustain the current bull run.