Japanese Investors Slow Investments in Overseas Bonds and Equities in Oct

Reuters

16:04 JST, November 10, 2023

Nov 10 (Reuters) – Japanese investments in foreign bonds and equities slowed in October, influenced by higher U.S. bond yields and a depreciating yen, data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed.

According to the data, domestic investors accumulated a net 1.12 trillion yen ($7.40 billion) worth of overseas bonds last month in a third straight month of net buying. But the amount was much lesser than the 3.33 trillion yen invested in September.

They also poured 736.6 billion yen into foreign equities, much lesser than about 1.17 trillion yen they put in the previous month.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR touched a 16-year peak of 5.021% in October, though it has retreated by about 25 basis points since the start of November.

Japanese banks poured a net 609.2 billion yen into long-term overseas bonds last month after about 4.76 trillion yen worth of net buying a month ago. Meanwhile, trust accounts and insurers pulled out a net 210.8 billion yen and 270.6 billion yen, respectively.

Year-to-date data indicated that Japanese investors were net purchasers of U.S. bonds, buying about 18.81 trillion yen worth by September, while they emerged as net sellers of European debt, offloading 1.25 trillion yen.