Foreign inflows into Japanese bonds surged in the week to November 15, as yields stabilised and investors moved to lock in higher returns, before sentiment soured on renewed concerns over the government’s stimulus plan and its impact on bond issuance.

Foreigners bought Japanese long-term bonds for a third straight week, to the tune of 961.6 billion yen ($6.11 billion), registering their largest weekly net purchase since October 4, data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed on Thursday.

They sold 431.1 billion yen worth of short-term bills.

Foreign flows into Japanese debt securities in billion yenThomson ReutersForeign flows into Japanese debt securities

The benchmark 10-year government bond yield (JP10YTN=JBTC) surged to nearly a 17-1/2-year high of 1.8% on Thursday as a ruling-party panel proposed supplementary budget of more than 25 trillion yen to support Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s stimulus plan.

Japanese stocks, meanwhile, attracted 1.02 trillion yen worth of foreign inflows, the most since October 25 as foreigners scooped up beaten down technology stocks following a recent selloff.

The Nikkei 225 index NI225 gained as much as 4.2% on Thursday as Nvidia’s NVDA robust earnings guidance on Wednesday, eased market worries over lofty valuations in the technology sector.

Foreign flows into Japanese stocks in billion yenThomson ReutersForeign flows into Japanese stocks

Meanwhile, Japanese investors snapped up a net 183.3 billion yen worth of foreign stocks last week, ending a four-week run of net selling.

Japanese investments in overseas stocks in billion yenThomson ReutersJapanese investments in stocks abroad

They also invested a net 348.4 billion yen in foreign long-term debt instruments and 78.9 billion in short-term bills in a second successive week of net purchases.

Japanese investments in overseas debt securities in billion yenThomson ReutersJapanese investments in overseas debt securities

($1 = 157.3700 yen)

AloJapan.com