Foreign investment poured into Japanese equities in the week ending April 18, with overseas buyers adding a net 2.38 trillion yen to local stocks, according to data released by Japan's Ministry of Finance on Thursday. That inflow followed a record 3.94 trillion yen weekly net purchase the previous week.
Market participants cited an early-stage rally in technology names as a key driver of the improved risk appetite. SoftBank Group rose 19.83% over the week, while semiconductor test equipment maker Advantest climbed 11.52% in the same period. Those moves coincided with the Nikkei surpassing the 60,000 mark for the first time on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week indefinitely extended the Iran ceasefire.
The equity flows contrasted with activity in Japan's bond market, where foreign investors sold 298.2 billion yen of long-term Japanese government bonds, ending a two-week streak of net purchases. At the same time, foreigners bought short-term bills with a net value of 1.89 billion yen after three consecutive weeks of net sales in that segment.
On the cross-border flows side, Japanese investors maintained their recent pattern of buying overseas equities, extending that streak to a ninth straight week with net purchases of foreign stocks totaling 338.1 billion yen. Conversely, they remained net sellers of foreign debt securities, divesting 183.3 billion yen in the latest week, marking their fifth weekly net sale in the past six weeks.
Exchange-rate data in the report put the dollar at 159.4900 yen for the period under review.
Context and market implications
The week's data underline a divergence in investor preferences: strong appetite for Japanese equities, particularly technology names linked to artificial intelligence, amid simultaneous rebalancing out of longer-duration local bonds by foreigners and continued Japanese demand for overseas equities. The flows reflect decisions across asset classes rather than a uniform move into or out of Japan.