Japanese investors flock to foreign stocks as banking fears ease

JAPANESE investors heavily bought foreign equities last week, buoyed by easing concerns about banking sector troubles and hopes that the Federal Reserve may be nearing the end of its rate-hiking cycle.

They purchased 390.3 billion yen (S$3.94 billion) worth of foreign equities, marking the biggest weekly net buying in eleven weeks, data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed on Thursday (Apr 6).

The MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe surged 3.5 per cent last week, the most since mid-November 2022, as market worries about the banking system ebbed following a US regulator-backed sale of failed lender Silicon Valley Bank’s assets.

Meanwhile, Japanese investors exited a net 486.1 billion yen worth of overseas bonds last week, after three weeks of net buying in a row.

On the other hand, foreign investors withdrew a net 414.96 billion yen from Japanese equities in their third straight week of net selling last week, data from Japanese exchanges showed.

They sold 422.02 billion yen worth of derivatives but purchased 7.06 billion yen worth of cash equities.

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Asean Intelligence

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Foreigners sold a net 1.75 trillion yen worth of Japanese bonds last week, in the second consecutive week of net selling.

They withdrew 2.7 trillion yen out of short-term bonds, but bought 944.1 billion yen worth of long-term bonds. REUTERS