Foreign investors purchased Japanese government bonds for ?the first time in six weeks in the week ended July 11 after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama signaled that state pension funds ?could shift allocations toward domestic assets.
Overseas investors ?bought ?a net ?499.8 billion ($3.08 billion) ?of Japanese long-term bonds, their first weekly net purchase since May 30. Short-term ?bills, however, saw net foreign outflows of ? 589.7 billion, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.
The 10-year JGB yield ?has slipped about ?20.5 basis points from a nearly 30-year high of 2.9% last week, ?after Katayama said ?the government aims to steer ?the country＊s vast state pension funds ?toward ※substantially§ ?increasing investments in domestic assets.
Japan＊s $1.8 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund currently maintains roughly equal allocations to domestic equities, foreign equities, domestic ?bonds and foreign bonds.
Japanese stocks, meanwhile, recorded ?745.6 billion in foreign inflows during the week, as overseas investors snapped a two-week ?selling ?streak.
Elsewhere, Japanese investors pumped a ?net ?745.7 billion into foreign short-term ?debt securities and ?1.09 trillion into long-term bonds, marking their largest weekly net purchase since May 9.
They also invested ?a net ?196.2 billion in foreign stocks, extending their recent buying trend into a fourth successive week.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.