Foreigners turned net buyers of Japan stocks in week ending Aug 23

[TOKYO] Foreigners turned net buyers of Japanese stocks for the first time in four weeks in the week ended Aug 23, backed by a slight lift in sentiment over Sino-US trade and hopes for stimulus in major economies such as China and Germany.

Overseas investors bought a net 56.9 billion yen(S$744.2 million) of Japanese stocks, including cash equities and futures during the week, data from Japanese stock exchanges showed.

They bought a net 97.1 billion yen in derivative markets but sold 40.3 billion yen in cash markets, the data showed.

Last week, the US-China trade tensions eased slightly after Washington extended a reprieve that permits China's Huawei Technologies to buy components from US companies by 90 days, to supply existing customers.

China unveiled a new benchmark interest rate to help lower borrowing costs, and reports that Germany's coalition government was prepared to set aside its balanced budget rule to launch stimulus steps also lifted global stocks last week.

The Nikkei and the Topix indexes rose over 1 per cent each in the week ended Aug 23, marking their first weekly gain in four weeks.

The two Japanese benchmarks are, however, weaker this week following US President Donald Trump's announcement of an additional duty on some S$550 billion of targeted Chinese goods.

Meanwhile, Japanese investors bought 234.8 billion yen worth of overseas equities during the week, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

REUTERS