Foreigners sell Japanese stocks for third straight week on inflation concerns

Foreign investors sold Japanese stocks for a third consecutive week, divesting a net 785.1 billion yen, amid inflation concerns and risk-off sentiment, but risk appetite improved with a U.S.-Iran peace agreement.

Foreign investors sold Japanese stocks for ​a third consecutive week ​through June 13, ‌as inflation concerns ​and last week's selloff in tech shares fueled risk-off sentiment. A U.S.-Iran peace agreement, however, ‌has sharply improved investor risk appetite this week. Foreigners divested a net 785.1 billion yen ($4.89 billion) of Japanese stocks during the week, slightly higher ‌than the 700.6 billion yen in net sales recorded the ‌previous week, Ministry of Finance data showed on Thursday.

The Nikkei, meanwhile, has climbed as much as 14.5% from last week's low of 62,335.75 to a record ⁠71,398.58 ​on Thursday. Even after ⁠recent outflows, foreign inflows into Japanese stocks stand at 9.85 trillion yen so far ⁠this year, far exceeding the 1.73 trillion yen seen a year earlier. Foreigners ​also withdrew 531 billion yen from Japanese long-term bonds and ⁠247.9 billion yen from short-term bills last week, ahead of an expectedrate hike ⁠by ​the Bank of Japan on Tuesday.

At the same time, Japanese investors sold a net 418.3 billion yen of overseas ⁠stocks, extending their recent run of net sales to a fourth consecutive ⁠week. They were, ⁠however, net buyers of foreign long-term bonds for a second consecutive week, purchasing a net 382.6 billion yen.

($1 = ‌160.5700 ‌yen)