Foreigners were net buyers of Japanese stocks for a second consecutive week ended April 12, but concerns over US tariffs on European Union and caution ahead of the domestic earnings season kept inflows in check. Overseas investors bought a net 78.32 billion yen ($699.85 million) worth of Japanese stocks, including cash equities and futures in that week, much lower than about 803 billion yen inflows in the preceding week, data from Japanese stock exchanges showed.
Foreigners bought a net 121.45 billion yen in cash markets and sold 43.13 billion yen in derivative markets, the data showed. Japan's major indexes were mixed in the April 8-12 week as the Nikkei index gained about 0.3 percent, while the Topix index shed 1.25 percent.
Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose US tariffs on $11 billion worth of European Union products, heightening tensions over a long-running transatlantic aircraft subsidy dispute and opening a new front in his global trade war. On the other hand, Japanese investors sold 562.8 billion yen worth of overseas equities in April 8-12, their biggest weekly net selling in over a year, the Ministry of Finance data showed.