U.S. Investors Were Biggest Net Foreign Buyers of Japan Stocks

Investors based in North America were the biggest overseas net buyers of Japanese stocks last year, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Investors based in North America bought 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) more shares than they sold on Japan’s exchanges in 2011, the country’s biggest bourse said today.

The amount accounted for half the total net purchases of Japanese stocks by overseas investors last year.

Net purchases by investors based in the U.S declined 38 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, while those in Europe fell 56 percent to 460.9 billion yen.

Net purchase by Asian investors rose 35 percent to 532.1 billion yen.

Foreigners in each of the regions bought more Japanese shares than they sold for a third year running, the data showed.

From: Bloomberg