Former investor darlings Japan, Europe fall to bottom of the heap

Tokyo

JAPAN and Europe, former darlings of stock investors, are now at the bottom of the heap.

The Topix index lost 13 per cent from the start of the year till last week, and foreign investors have yanked US$10.7 billion out of Japanese equities. The world's worst performing developed markets are found in Tokyo and across Europe, where a regional benchmark gauge lost 6.8 per cent and strategists expect shares to tread water for the rest of 2016.