Citi upgrades Japan to overweight, downgrades emerging markets to neutral

LONDON (Reuters) - Citigroup on Monday upgraded Japanese shares on expectations they will continue to benefit from a favorable macro environment, while downgrading emerging market stocks.

The brokerage now has an "overweight" rating on Japanese stocks, citing high wage growth and recovering domestic demand as well as an increase in share buybacks and a relatively weak yen as reasons behind the upgrade.

Japan's main index the Nikkei 225 remains close to a record high. It has gained over 17% so far this year, after a 28.2% surge in 2023.

Citi downgraded emerging markets to a "neutral" rating, though is overweight Asian emerging markets and underweight Latin America.

(Reporting by Lucy Raitano, editing by Alun John)