Japanese investors sell overseas bonds for fourth straight month
Jan 12 (Reuters) - Japanese investors exited foreign bonds for a fourth month in December as local yields rose and the yen strengthened against the dollar.
According to data from Japan's Ministry of Finance, Japanese investors sold a net 2.1 trillion yen ($15.94 billion) worth of foreign bonds in December, marking a fourth straight month of net disposal.
The yen gained 5.3% last month and analysts expect a rally in the yen could prompt local investors to divert money going outside into domestic markets.
However, local investors poured 1.87 trillion yen into foreign equities in December after withdrawing a net 1.39 billion yen.
In 2022, Japanese investors offloaded 23.01 trillion yen worth of overseas debt, their biggest sale on a net basis since at least 2005. But they purchased foreign equities of 3.56 trillion yen after two years of net sales in a row.
Between January and November, local investors purchased a net 1.2 trillion yen worth of U.S. equities but withdrew 15.34 trillion out of U.S. bonds.
In Europe, they ditched 5.15 trillion yen worth of bonds and 259.5 billion yen worth of equities. ($1 = 131.7500 yen)
(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra and Patturaja Murugaboopathy in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
