One group less than pleased to see Suga as prime minister will be investors in Japan’s mobile carriers. Suga has spent much of the past two years attacking the three legacy carriers for their perceived lack of competition, which Suga contends has led to Japanese customers having higher mobile phone bills than those in other countries. He has also repeatedly highlighted the fat profit margins of the three, and on Sunday threatened to raise the fees the carriers pay for the use of radio waves.
With Yoshihide Suga now a certainty to be formally declared the next prime minster of Japan on Wednesday, market watchers are eyeing what the election of the unassuming son of a strawberry farmer means for the country’s equity markets.
While Suga had long been seen as one of the top contenders to replace Shinzo Abe when he stepped down, the speed at which ruling Liberal Democratic Party elders moved to throw their weight behind him was nonetheless surprising – although so far his policies haven’t turned heads.
“In the short-term we don’t expect any major shifts in policy until the Covid-19 threat has disappeared,” Jefferies analysts including Sean Darby wrote after Suga’s appointment by his party. “Japan is recovering much quicker than the markets would have expected three months ago. Strong monetary growth accompanied by tangible profits ought to keep a bid on Japanese share prices.”
