Japanese stocks receive first weekly foreign inflows in five

Foreign investors turned net weekly buyers of Japanese stocks for the first week in five, buoyed by gains in tech shares and upbeat results from some local companies.

Outsiders purchased Japanese stocks of 217.64 billion yen ($1.89 billion) in the week to Feb. 11, their first weekly net buying since Jan. 7, data from Japanese exchanges showed.

Foreigners bought derivatives of 232.51 billion yen but sold a net 14.87 billion yen in cash equity markets, the lowest outflow in five weeks.


Strong quarterly earnings from Nissan Motor, Honda Motor and heavy machinery maker IHI and their positive full-year forecasts raised the shares during the week.

The Topix index surged 1.7%, while the Nikkei index added 0.9%.

However, both Japanese benchmarks are set for a weekly loss this week on concerns over deepening tensions surrounding Ukraine, and prospects of an aggressive monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

Meanwhile, cross-border investors sold Japanese bonds worth 3.15 trillion yen, compared with net purchases of 1.05 trillion yen in the previous week, finance ministry data showed.

On the other hand, Japanese investors sold overseas bonds of 2.01 trillion yen, but purchased cross-border equities worth 111.2 billion yen, which marked a third consecutive week of net buying. ($1 = 115.3100 yen)