Japanese investors spent 2.2 trillion yen on buying foreign stocks in March, setting a record for the largest purchase in nearly a year.

Noticed that, due to the recent depreciation of the Japanese yen and the relatively cheap stock market pricing caused by the Middle East war, investors' appetite has been stimulated, and Japanese investors set a record high in March for investing in foreign stocks in nearly a year. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, local investors net purchased 22.2 trillion yen (approximately $140.4 billion) worth of foreign stocks. This is the largest single-month net purchase amount since the US announced the "Releasing Japan" tariffs in April 2025 (when they bought stocks worth 3.27 trillion yen). Analysts at Barclays Bank stated in their report, "The flow of funds from the new NISA (Japanese Individual Savings Account) has driven the purchase of foreign stocks." NISA is a tax-free stock investment program for individuals by the Japanese government, aiming to convert trillions of yen in household cash into stock market investments. At the same time, local investors also sold 4.12 trillion yen worth of foreign bonds, marking the largest single-month net sell-off since netting 4.13 trillion yen in October 2024. Trust accounts bought approximately 1.3 trillion yen worth of foreign stocks last month, but net sold 601.4 billion yen worth of long-term bonds. Investment trust management companies and bank accounts separately invested 828.3 billion yen and 226.3 billion yen in foreign stocks. Another set of data from the Bank of Japan shows that Japanese investors net sold 3.42 trillion yen worth of US bonds in February, marking the largest single-month sell-off since June 2022. During that month, they also sold 173.3 billion yen worth of European bonds. During this period, they respectively sold 270.14 billion yen and 131.73 billion yen worth of French and German bonds but net increased their holdings by 158.07 billion yen of Italian bonds.