Japan is the only major market in the world to have experienced a savage bear market in small-capitalised stocks, says Peter Tasker, analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort.

Japan’s Mothers market for start-ups has slumped about 78 per cent from its peak; 61 per cent of stocks capitalised below Y100bn ($938m) are currently trading below book value, and 26 per cent have a price/earnings ratio of 10 times or less, he says.