Japanese investors worry Europe’s new rules may stunt bull run

TOKYO: As Europe’s new rules for research and trading get underway, some investors in Japan are worried that they may have a negative effect on their surging equity market.

The theory is simple enough, and by no means limited to the Asian country. European investors will be more reluctant to buy Japanese shares, because local brokerages will be less able to pitch stocks to them now that the European Union’s revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) has come into effect, according to Shinkin Asset Management Co.