Foreign investors offloaded Japanese shares for a fifth week, marking the longest selling streak since last March when the nation’s stocks were about to kick off their historic rally.
They sold net ¥21.4 billion ($133 million) of cash equities in the week that ended June 21, according to data from Japan Exchange Group. The country’s stocks slid during the period as political risks in Europe weighed on sentiment. Domestic retail investors bought ¥190 billion of shares, the third week of net purchases.
There are signs that global investors are growing more cautious on the country’s stocks as the yen’s decline extended to a 38-year low. While currency depreciation has previously given a boost to exporters, its relentless slide is raising concerns that it may hurt Japan’s economy. The weak yen also erodes the value of foreign investors holdings in dollar terms.
Political uncertainty in Europe is damping down risk appetite as elections in France and the U.K. near. That’s also highlighting concerns about the U.S. presidential election.
"Foreign investors are taking wait-and-see attitude on political concerns,” said Kohei Onishi, a senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. "They might not become big buyers of Japanese stocks in the near-term.”
Foreign investors were net sellers of Japanese stocks for five weeks through March 24 last year. They then began piling in on improving shareholder returns, booming corporate profits and on Warren Buffett’s endorsement, helping to push the 225-issue Nikkei average to an all-time high earlier this year.