Demand for Japanese bonds surged to a two-year high in the week through March 15, driven by safe-haven appeal due to growing concerns over the potential economic impact from changes in U.S. tariff policies and a broad selloff in equities.

Foreigners net bought long-term Japanese bonds worth 3.4 trillion yen ($22.82 billion) in their largest weekly net purchase in two years, data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed.

Short-term Japanese bonds, however, witnessed 2.26 trillion yen worth of outflows, the biggest weekly net foreign sales in nearly seven months.

Foreigners also pulled out 1.81 trillion yen from Japanese equities, the highest in a week since September 21.

Japanese investors, meanwhile, divested foreign equities worth a net 752.5 billion yen following four consecutive weekly net purchases.

They also sold 87.6 billion yen worth of foreign long-term debt securities, but snapped up about 128.7 billion yen worth of short-term bills.

Reuters