Foreigners turn net sellers of Japanese stocks, lock in 2024 gains

Tokyo: So, it looks like foreign investors are pulling back on Japanese stocks. Last week, they sold off about 74 billion yen, which is around $468 million. They’re cashing in on the gains from 2024 while trying to play it safe during this long market break.

Before this, they had been on a buying spree, picking up about 1.23 trillion yen worth of stocks earlier in the year. But now, it seems they’re taking a breather after the Nikkei index had a solid year, gaining over 19% in 2023. However, after the market reopened, the index dipped a bit, down 1.15% this week as folks started to lock in their profits.

Interestingly, while they were selling stocks, foreign investors did buy some Japanese debt securities, around 227.5 billion yen last week. This was a nice change after three weeks of selling. Meanwhile, Japanese investors are also getting in on the action, adding 325.1 billion yen in foreign stocks but pulling back on foreign bonds for the third week in a row. It’s a bit of a mixed bag out there!