Society

Japanese stocks see biggest weekly foreign inflows in over 2 months

Aug 13 (Reuters) - Foreign investors scaled up purchases in Japanese shares in the week ended Aug. 6 as optimism about strong corporate earnings outweighed concerns about surging cases of the Delta coronavirus variant.

Foreigners bought Japanese shares worth a net 398.7 billion yen($3.61 billion), their biggest net buying since the week to May 28, data from Japanese exchanges showed.

They purchased derivatives worth a net 327.67 billion yen and 71.03 billion yen in cash equity markets.

Cross-border investors also secured Japanese bonds worth a net 1.87 trillion yen, their second straight weekly net buying, finance ministry data showed.

Last week, Japanese shares marked their first weekly gain in three, thanks to domestic firms’ upbeat quarterly results. Nippon Yusen, Misumi Group, auto-parts maker Denso reported strong earnings.

The Nikkei share average surged about 2%, while the Topix index added 1.5% last week, though concerns about a surge in COVID-19 cases that strained the local healthcare system lingered.

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