Bets against Japan's megabanks soar as investors become polarised

Hong Kong

BEARISH bets on Japan's largest banks have swelled to a six-year high as their recent surge fuels speculation that the shares have risen too far, too fast.

Margin-account holdings that profit when shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and Mizuho Financial Group Inc fall reached 109 million shares on Dec 2, the most since July 2010, according to weekly data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The lenders rallied over the past month as Donald Trump's election victory drove up bond yields in the US and Japan, attracting overseas buying while failing to impress individual investors who see the rebound as overdone, according to Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings Inc.