Foreign investors kept up a sell-off in Japanese stocks in the week to August 2, concerned about a yen rally that is clouding the profit outlook for export-reliant firms, while a historic rate hike by the Bank of Japan further fuelled bets on the yen.
Stock exchange data showed they sold a robust 1.07 trillion yen ($7.33 billion) worth of Japanese shares during the week, following net disposals worth 1.58 trillion yen in the previous week.
Summing up last week’s outflows, foreign investors have pulled a net 1.14 trillion yen from Japanese shares this year, a stark contrast to last year’s net purchases of 7.91 trillion yen.
Foreign investors sold a net 515.41 billion yen in derivative contracts for a third consecutive week of net sales. They also divested about 552.43 billion yen in cash equities.
Japan’s Nikkei share average index dropped 4.67 per cent last week, driven by a yen surge amid uncertainties over the Bank of Japan’s tightening path and concerns about a US slowdown.
On Monday, the index plummeted 12.4 per cent in its largest single-day decline since the 1987 Black Monday sell-offs.
“The current level, however, appears to be where the market looks to build a toehold for a path back to recovery,” said Naoki Kamiyama, chief strategist at Nikko Asset Management.
“Domestic demand remains strong, supported by the continuing rise in wages, which we believe could be the catalyst for a recovery by Japanese equities.”
The BOJ raised its interest rate target to 0.25 per cent last week, the highest in 15 years, driving a yen surge to about 141.66 against the dollar on Monday, before paring some gains in later sessions.
In the debt market, cross-border investors continued to be net sellers of Japanese bonds for the eighth consecutive week, finance ministry data showed. Foreign investors unloaded short-term Japanese bonds worth 953.5 billion yen, for an eighth straight week of net sales.
Japanese long-term debt saw foreign outflows of 1.16 trillion yen, reversing inflows of 1.21 trillion the previous week.
After three consecutive weeks of net selling, Japanese investors acquired long-term overseas bonds worth 669.7 billion yen and bought about 7.1 billion yen of short-term debt securities.
Japanese investors’ net purchases of foreign stocks valued at 1.29 trillion yen were the largest such figure since at least January 2005.
