Net buying of 2.1805 trillion yen... Japanese designated investors' overseas securities

Japanese designated reporting institutions bought a net ¥2.1805 trillion ($14.5 billion) of overseas securities in the week of Oct. 25–31, according to Ministry of Finance data released Nov. 6, with ¥1.312 trillion of long-term bonds and ¥1.077 trillion of equities and investment fund shares purchased on net while ¥209.3 billion of short-term bills were sold. The split shows Japanese institutional money continuing to flow into both foreign debt and risk assets even as short-dated holdings were trimmed. The figures matter because they feed directly into Japan's persistent current-account surplus, which BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda noted on Nov. 6 now rests far more on overseas investment income than on trade. Watch next week's MOF flow data and the BOJ's policy signals for whether this pace of outbound investment holds.