Local investers take profit and foreigner investing
Foreigners Stay Net Buyers of Japan Stocks in March
2006-04-06
Jiji Press English News Service
Tokyo, April 6 (Jiji Press)--Foreign investors stayed net buyers of Japanese stocks in March for the 22nd straight month, leading the market's bull run amid optimism over the Japanese economy, a Tokyo Stock Exchange report showed Thursday.
Nonresidents' net buying in the Feb. 27-March 31 period totaled 995,780 million yen, up sharply from the previous month's 418,424 million yen, according to the report covering share transactions via 60 securities firms on the first and second sections of Japan's three major exchanges of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
It represents the largest net purchases by foreigners since November last year.
"Foreigners stepped up purchase of Japanese stocks as they took heart from the nation's strong economic fundamentals and corporate earnings growth," said Yutaka Miura, equity manager at Shinko Securities Co. "The U.S. stock market's uptrend also allowed them to increase risk exposures on non-U.S. markets."
Miura pointed out that the Bank of Japan's pledge to keep the key short-term interest rate at almost zero pct for the time being also provided a sense of relief after the central bank ended its five- year-old quantitative monetary easing policy on March 9.
In the reporting month, the 225-issue Nikkei average shot up 957.75 points, or 5.9 pct, to finish at 17,059.66 on Friday last week, the final day of fiscal 2005.
The key market gauge topped 17,000 for the first time in five years and seven months, driven by expectations for an early end of Japan's deflation.
While foreigners' aggressive buying lifted the market higher, individuals actively unloaded stocks to take profits on the powerful rally.
The TSE report showed that individuals' selling excess came to 822,740 million yen, up sharply from the previous month's net sales of 78,979 million yen. |
