Australian fund managers are backing the rapid rebound in Japanese stocks, despite the worst crash in almost four decades pouring cold water on one of the best-performing markets of the past 12 months.

The rout in global markets at the start of the month, sparked by weaker-than-expected US jobs data, accelerated a violent unwinding of the lucrative yen carry trade, where global investors borrowed cheap money in Japan to move into higher-yielding assets overseas.