Foreign investors were big sellers in Japanese stocks in the week ended May 13, as sharp declines in U.S. stocks due to worries around inflation, higher interest rates and economic health weighed on sentiment.

Overseas investors sold Japanese stocks worth a net 753.19 billion yen ($5.86 billion), marking the biggest weekly outflow since April 1, data from Japanese exchanges showed.

They sold 353.43 billion yen in cash equity markets and 399.76 billion yen worth of derivatives.
Data last week showed U.S. consumer prices moderated in April but were likely to stay hot for a while. Investors feared it would keep the Federal Reserve’s foot on the brakes to cool demand, that could tip the economy into recession.

The Nikkei share average hit nearly a two-month low of 25,688.11 last week but recovered about 3% by the weekend, as investors snapped up cheap stocks.

The Nikkei and the Topix index, both had losses of over 2% last week.

Meanwhile, non-native investors purchased Japanese bonds worth 575.4 billion yen in a second straight week of net buying, finance ministry data showed.

Japanese investors purchased overseas bonds of a net 338.7 billion yen, marking their first weekly net buying since March 11, however, they sold foreign equities worth 57.4 billion yen after fourth weeks of net buying in a row. ($1 = 128.6100 yen)

Reuters