The Japanese investment trust market is at a turning point as popular monthly-distribution trusts have begun to see a net outflow of funds while artificial intelligence- and big data-oriented funds are attracting investors expecting high growth. Long-term investment trusts are also in a firm state in line with a growing trend toward asset-building and away from savings in Japan. In 2017, open-type investment trusts, excluding exchange-traded funds, witnessed a new inflow of funds totaling 2.71 trillion yen ($24.34 billion). With their outstanding balance continuing to increase, investment trusts are taking hold as a key asset-building tool for individuals. According to data compiled by QUICK Asset Management Research Center on fund flows for investment trust management companies, individual investors are being lured to trusts that focus on AI and other cutting-edge technologies.

On the 10th day of every month, Junsuke Senoguchi has just one thing on his mind -- the closing level of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. That's because Mr Senoguchi, an unassuming man in his late forties, has built a machine that's been predicting the direction of Japanese shares, and once a month he gets a progress report on its success. The model makes a simple call -- whether the equity index will be higher or lower after 30 days -- and over almost four years it's been right 68% of the time. "I'm so happy when it works", said Mr Senoguchi, a senior equity strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo. "It's because I feel I can predict the future." Algorithms have invaded global share markets, used by everyone from high-frequency traders closing bets in fractions of a second, to specialist asset managers whose strategies are determined by complex quantitative analysis.