Japanese Buybacks Salvage Stocks Missing Rally

Japanese businesses left behind this year as global equities rallied to a record found a winning strategy in buying back shares the rest of the world preferred to avoid.

Companies in the Topix index are acquiring their own stock at the fastest pace since 2008, led by NTT Docomo Inc. and Toyota Motor Corp., with $27 billion of announced purchases this year through May, data compiled by SMBC Nikko Securities Inc. show. The buybacks are limiting losses in the world’s worst-performing developed equity market: Companies using the strategy have gained even as the Topix slid.