Japan: Sluggish recovery in foreign investment - Nomura

Analysts at Nomura note that Jaapanese investment in foreign securities remained weak in February as excluding banks, Japanese investors were net buyers of foreign securities for the second month in a row, but the pace of net purchases remained slower than mid-last year.

Key Quotes

“Lifers sold foreign bonds at a moderate pace ahead of the fiscal year-end. Pension funds’ foreign investment activity was also muted, as they had limited incentives for rebalancing amid JPY weakness since November. Foreign investment by toshin companies continued to recover. In January, Japanese investors continued to sell USTs aggressively, while selling French bonds at a moderate pace. The seasonally adjusted current account surplus decreased by about JPY400bn in January from the previous month.”