The Currency analytics
By Maheen Hernandez
Foreign money fled Japanese stocks hard in January. International investors poured just ¥328.
The drop caught many traders off guard, especially after months of steady foreign buying that had pushed the Nikkei to multi-year highs.
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda kept rates ultra-low at the January 20 policy meeting, but that move seems to have backfired with foreign investors.
Tokyo's main stock index got hammered throughout January, with wild swings that scared off institutional buyers.
Nomura analysts think the pullback might be temporary. Maybe they're right.
Corporate earnings season starts next month, and some big names like SoftBank and Fast Retailing are expected to beat estimates.
The investment drought comes as Japan's economic recovery shows signs of stalling, with fourth-quarter GDP growth hitting just 0.4% - way below the 0.8% economists had forecast.
Currency moves made things worse. Daiwa Securities noted on January 22 that the yen's 3% rally against the dollar this month hurt returns for foreign investors, who face exchange…
And there's the Fed factor too. Jerome Powell's hints about potential rate hikes have global investors rethinking their entire Asia allocation, not just Japan.
Toyota didn't help sentiment when it cut profit forecasts on January 27, citing weak overseas sales.
But here's the twist - domestic investors stepped up their buying in January, partially offsetting the foreign exodus.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki tried to calm nerves on January 29, promising to engage more with international investors and maintain economic stability.
The International Monetary Fund threw another curveball on January 30, cutting global growth forecasts and warning about trade disruptions that could hit export-dependent…
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group hasn't released its own analysis of the investment trends yet, but their research team typically provides detailed breakdowns of capital flows that…
The yen traded at 148.50 per dollar Friday, up from 152.20 at the start of January.