Japanese stocks see biggest weekly foreign outflow in five weeks

FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an electronic board displaying Japan’s Nikkei index and various countries’ stock market index prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, February 22, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

(Reuters) - Foreign investors stepped up selling in Japanese stocks last week, as the intensifying war in Ukraine pushed up oil and other commodity prices, heaping further inflationary pressures on economies worldwide.

Outsiders sold Japanese stocks for a third straight week, worth 379.64 billion yen ($3.27 billion) in the week to March 4, which marked the biggest weekly outflow since Jan. 28, data from Japanese exchanges showed.

Title: Foreign flows into Japanese stocks, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/dwvkrlnjjpm/Foreign%20flows%20into%20Japanese%20stocks.jpg

Foreigners sold 269.24 billion yen in cash equity markets and 110.4 billion yen worth of derivatives.

Last week, Japanese shares dropped for a third consecutive week amid a surge in international crude oil prices as Tokyo’s high dependence on energy imports raised fears of inflation.

Despite widespread international condemnation and severe Western sanctions, Russia pressed ahead with his invasion of Ukraine last week. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation.”

The Nikkei index lost 1.85% last week and the Topix index shed 1.67% in their third successive week of decline.

The Nikkei index hit a 21-month low earlier this week but pared some losses on Thursday as investors pinned hopes on planned diplomatic talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, cross-border investors secured Japanese bonds of 2.52 trillion yen in a third straight week of net buying, finance ministry data showed.

On the other hand, Japanese investors purchased overseas equities of 285.7 billion yen in a second straight week of net buying, although they sold cross-border bonds of 409.4 billion yen.

Title: Japanese investments in stocks abroad, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/jnvwebzjqvw/Japanese%20investments%20in%20stocks%20abroad.jpg

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)

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