Japanese stocks see biggest weekly foreign inflows in six months By Reuters

(Reuters) – Foreign investors stepped up their purchases of Japanese stocks in the week ended Oct. 5 as the yen weakened following dovish remarks by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, boosting appetite for local exporters.

Foreigners bought 919.3 billion yen ($6.16 billion) worth of Japanese stocks on a net basis during the week, according to Finance Ministry data, in the biggest weekly net purchase since April 13.

The yen fell about 4.4 percent against the dollar last week, the most since December 2009, as concerns about rate hikes eased after Ishiba said Japan was not in an environment for further rate hikes. rate.

Foreigners have sold about 5.42 trillion yen worth of Japanese stocks so far in the second half of this year, after about 6 trillion yen of net purchases in the first half of the year.

Exchange data showed foreigners pumped about ¥395.55 billion into Japanese stocks in cash, but remained net sellers of derivatives contracts for a third straight week, with about ¥604.4 billion in net sales.

In Japan’s bond market, foreigners bought a net 1.38 trillion yen worth of long-term securities, their biggest weekly net purchase since Sept. 14. They also poured about ¥50.3 billion into short-term instruments.

Japanese investors bought 696.7 billion yen worth of foreign bonds, following net sales of 55.8 billion yen in the previous week. However, they sold ¥138.7 billion worth of short-term debt securities.

Meanwhile, Japanese investors bought 257.8 billion yen worth of foreign stocks, their biggest weekly net purchase in four weeks.

(1 USD = 149.2500 yen)