Investors from Japan pulled money out of international equity markets at their fastest rate in roughly half a decade during May, as worries about conflicts in the Middle East and fears that technology-fueled market gains had gone too far dampened investor confidence.
According to information released Monday by Japan’s Ministry of Finance, these investors withdrew a net 2.72 trillion yen ($16.98 billion) from overseas stocks throughout the month, representing their largest net pullback since April 2021.
The MSCI World Index, which reached a record high of 1,138.3 last week, has declined approximately 2.9% during this month as a strong U.S. employment report sparked selling in popular artificial intelligence-related technology shares.
While pulling back from stocks, Japanese investors purchased a net 2.9 trillion yen in foreign debt securities, marking the highest level since May 2025.
Ministry of Finance figures revealed that trust accounts sold off a net 3.38 trillion yen in international stocks while simultaneously investing 3.16 trillion yen in overseas bond markets.
On the other hand, investment trust management companies and life insurers purchased net amounts of 614.6 billion yen and 77.5 billion yen respectively in foreign equities during the previous month.
Additional data from the Bank of Japan indicated that Japanese investors had acquired 1.91 trillion yen in U.S. equities and 826.4 billion yen in European stocks during the year’s first four months.
During that same January-through-April period, they had purchased 285.5 billion yen in British stocks and 80.1 billion yen in Spanish equities.
