Tokyo, Nov. 28 (Jiji Press)–Foreign investors turned net sellers of Japanese stocks last week for the first time in four weeks, according to data released by the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday.
Nonresidents’ net selling came to 5,446 million yen in the Nov. 17-21 week, against the previous week’s buying excess of 178,254 million yen, said the TSE in its weekly report covering transactions by 59 brokerage firms on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya exchanges.
“Selling related to U.S. asset management firms’ scandal over improper trading of investment trust funds spread to Japanese stocks, while hedge funds locked in profits ahead of their book closings in November,” said Toshihiko Matsuno, deputy equity general manager at SMBC Friend Securities Co.
Last week, the 225-issue Nikkei average shed 314.23 points, or 3.1 pct, to finish Friday’s session at 9,852.83 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The key market gauge moved below the 10,000 line with investor sentiment chilled by fears of terrorist attacks.
Individual investors remained net buyers for the second consecutive week, but their buying excess came to only 1,631 million yen as they stepped up selling on margin.
Trust banks stayed net sellers for 29 weeks in a row, with their net selling coming to 87,070 million yen, down from 136,495 million yen in the previous week. What appeared to be public pension funds’ buying helped partly offset company pension funds’ continued moves to cash out assets that are due to be returned to the government, brokers said.END
