Foreigners turn net buyers of Japanese stocks last week

(Reuters) – Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks last week, as worries about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes eased and sentiment improved after China eased its COVID-19 restrictions.

Overseas investors purchased Japanese stocks worth a net 338.5 billion yen ($2.50 billion) in the week ended Dec. 8, after selling a net 781.55 billion yen worth in the previous week, data from exchanges showed.

Foreign flows into Japanese stocks

They accumulated derivatives worth a net 418.27 billion yen but disposed of cash equities of 79.77 billion yen. According to the data, they have been net sellers of about 2.8 trillion yen worth of Japanese stocks so far this year.

Japanese shares jumped more than 1% last Friday, tracking a surge in Wall Street indexes that day, as investors inferred data showing a rise in weekly U.S. jobless claims as a sign the pace of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes could soon slow.

The share average and the index, both gained about 0.4% last week, after a week of decline.

Data showed cross-border investors drew a net 6.14 trillion yen worth of Japanese bonds last week, which marked their biggest weekly net purchase since Jan. 2021.

Meanwhile, Japanese investors obtained about 246.5 billion yen worth of foreign equities in a second straight week of net buying but exited overseas bonds of 736.7 billion.

Japanese investments in stocks abroad

($1 = 135.6000 yen)

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