Japan Quant Panorama: Momentum in Japan

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Japan Quant Panorama: Momentum in Japan

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Japan Quant Panorama

Momentum in Japan

Japan Momentum strategies continue outperforming 10 July 2026

For decades, Value strategies performed well in Japan, but the persistent Quant Strategy

outperformance of some segments of the market more recently has translated to strong Japan

performance of momentum strategies in Japan. Positive Triple Momentum (earnings, Nigel Tupper >>

price, news) outperformed Negative Triple Momentum by 4.0% in June, and the 12- Quant Strategist

month performance spread is 20.8%. Among Japan’s Most Important Stocks, the Triple Merrill+61 2 9226Lynch5735(Australia)

Momentum is currently strongest for Fujikura, Renesas Electronics, Murata, Mizuho, nigel.tupper@bofa.com

SoftBank Group, IBIDEN, Keyence, and Kioxia, and Sumitomo Electric. Amar Vashi >>

Quant Strategist

Semis led performance in June Merrillamar.vashi@bofa.comLynch (Australia)

Japan equities gained +1.7% in June as the Semis sector (+32.8%) continued to drive Sumuhan Shanmugalingam >>

returns. Japan Banks (+7.1%) and Tech Hardware (+4.6%) also outperformed, while QuantMerrill StrategistLynch (Australia)

Telecom (-12.9%), Energy (-9.6%) and Materials (-6.3%) fell. High and improving 2026 sumuhan.shanmugalingam@bofa.com

EPS growth forecasts in Japan continue to support equity market performance.

Funds globally continue to add Japan exposure

The latest monthly update of our “Global Positioning in Stocks” analysis indicates long-

only funds globally bought $1.4bn of Japan shares and funds have bought $36.8bn in the

last 12 months. Long-only funds bought the most in SoftBank Group, Kioxia, IBIDEN,

Sumitomo Electric, and Mitsubishi UFJ. Funds have sold Advantest, Honda, and Sony.