JAPAN DATA: Early 2025 Local Bias to Buy Offshore Assets Continues
Jan-23 00:01By: Jonathan Cavenagh
Japan
Offshore inflows into Japanese equities were negative in the week ending Jan 17. This only partially reversed the prior week's inflows but continued the see-saw patterns of flows for this segment. Some nervousness ahead of Trump's inauguration might have kept funds on the sidelines. Given the rebound in tech related equities this week, we may see such flows stabilize though. Offshore investors were firm buyers of local bonds, but this marked only the 2nd week out of the last 5 we have seen positive inflows. The BoJ is widely expected to hike rates tomorrow.
- Japan investors continued to buy offshore bonds, marking the second straight week of net firm buying for this segment. The trend through much of late 2024 was net outflows though.
- Local investors also continued to buy overseas stocks, extending the weekly streak to 6 weeks. Early year trends have been for Japan investors to buy both offshore stocks and bonds.
Table 1: Japan Weekly Investment Flows
| Billion Yen | Week ending Jan 17 | Prior Week |
| Foreign Buying Japan Stocks | -66.1 | 259.1 |
| Foreign Buying Japan Bonds | 876.1 | -502.5 |
| Japan Buying Foreign Bonds | 819.3 | 758.7 |
| Japan Buying Foreign Stocks | 489.8 | 588.9 |
Source: MNI - Market News/Bloomberg
