Foreign investors miss out on Nikkei stock index rally

Tokyo

AS THE Nikkei 225 stock index rises towards its highest level in more than two decades, one group of investors has surprisingly missed out.

Since the start of 2016, foreigners have offloaded some US$27 billion in the Asian country's equities. While they were initially right to sell as the Nikkei 225 fell to a 20-month low in June 2016, they've been slow to return, even as the measure trades about 3 per cent short of its highest close since 1996.