Japan¡¯s retail investors have ignored the equity rally at home and have placed their faith in overseas stocks.

Individuals unloaded a net ?3.8 trillion ($24.3 billion) of Japanese stocks and related investment trusts through November, the most in more than a decade, according to compiled data from Japan Exchange Group and the Investment Trusts Association, Japan. At the same time, the Topix index jumped about 25% last year.

Meanwhile, their net buying of overseas stocks via investment trust funds has hovered near 2024¡¯s record-high ?9.4 trillion, indicating that retail investors continue to have a good appetite for foreign assets. That¡¯s driven by weakening in the yen which inflates the value of overseas equities in Japanese currency terms.