Worst loss in decades sees Japan shunning US debt at wrong time

New York

THE last time it was this cheap for Japanese investors to buy Treasuries and hedge away currency risk was two years ago, when they were piling in and pushing holdings to a record high.

How times have changed. These days, America's biggest foreign creditor is unloading US debt. And in a warning sign for the US$13.9 trillion Treasuries market, Japan's famously risk-averse money managers are giving little sense that an about-face is imminent, even as their new fiscal year is poised to bring a clean slate after a punishing stretch of losses.