Overseas investors net sold approximately 491 billion yen of Japanese stocks last week, the first time this year

The market is concerned that rising oil prices will impact the Japanese economy, and last week foreign investors turned to net selling of Japanese stocks for the first time this year. According to data from the Japan Exchange Group, as of the week ending March 13, overseas investors net sold approximately 491 billion yen (3.1 billion USD) of Japanese stocks, with the weekly sell-off being the largest since September of last year.

Naoya Oshikubo, chief market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, stated that many investors believe Japan is one of the countries most severely affected by rising oil prices, which is the reason for the recent poor performance of the Japanese stock market.

The Nikkei index rose 17% in the first two months of this year, but has since fallen 9.3% since the outbreak of the Iran conflict, while the S&P 500 index has only dropped 3.7% during the same period