Japan equity memo: Top-ranked stocks held by investment trusts (as of end-August)

According to publicly available information, megabank stocks continued to rank highly among stocks held by publicly offered actively managed Japanese equity investment trusts as of end-August 2026, while the popularity of Recruit Holdings [6098] and Hitachi [6501] rose sharply and banks other than the three megabanks also gained popularity—consistent with growing interest in regional banks and SaaS/services as destinations for funds rotating out of AI/semiconductor and megabank stocks. Tokyo Electron [8035], Tokio Marine Holdings [8766], Sony Group [6758], and Murata Manufacturing [6981] saw declines in popularity. Weightings rose for pharmaceuticals and banks other than the three megabanks, and fell for semiconductor production equipment, wire & cable, MLCCs, memory, robots and factory automation. Stocks with increased weightings had previously outperformed, while those with reduced weightings underperformed in Jul–Aug, though both groups moved broadly in line with TOPIX in September.