Last week, a surge in foreign investment propelled the Japanese stock market, with a particular focus on AI-related firms, offsetting worries about the Bank of Japan’s policy direction amid a declining yen. Exchange data revealed that international investors made a net purchase of Japanese stocks amounting to 604.93 billion yen for the week ending on June 28, the highest since April 12. The investments were divided into 480.96 billion yen in derivatives and 123.97 billion yen in cash stocks, contrasting sharply with the prior week’s net sales.
Tech stocks saw robust interest, especially semiconductor tester Advantest, which jumped roughly 11%, and AI-centric investor SoftBank Group, which rose about 5%. The Topix index recorded its largest weekly increase since March 12, climbing 3.12%, while the Nikkei average grew by approximately 2.56%, both reaching new highs on Thursday, buoyed by positive expectations for corporate earnings in the second half of the year.
Conversely, international investors withdrew about 130.9 billion yen from long-term Japanese bonds, marking the third week of net selling, and disposed of 1.15 trillion yen in short-term debt, continuing the trend for the third week. Meanwhile, Japanese investors sold 254.4 billion yen in long-term and 67.3 billion yen in short-term foreign bonds, marking the second consecutive week of net selling in foreign bonds. Additionally, they divested 488.8 billion yen in foreign equities, a reversal from the previous week’s net purchase of 119.3 billion yen.