Japan investors' selling of foreign bonds hits 14-month high

TOKYO (REUTERS) - Japanese investors' net selling of foreign bonds hit its highest level in 14 months last week as they continued to defy expectations Japan's radical monetary policy to reflate its economy would lead to a flight of investment out of the country.

They sold 1.1875 trillion yen (S$15.5 billion) worth of foreign bonds in the week through June 22, the largest since the first week of April last year and a sixth straight week of net selling.

Ministry of Finance data showed Japanese investors repatriated a net 1.1204 trillion yen last week after they bought 13.9 billion yen of foreign equities and 53.1 billion yen of money market instruments.

Since the beginning of 2013, Japanese investors have repatriated 14.62 trillion yen, compared with an outflow of 5.36 trillion yen the same period last year.

Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese equities last week, with a net inflow of 171.2 billion yen after they sold 3.1 billion yen of stocks in the previous week.

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