Japanese investors sold off overseas bonds in February, reaching the largest scale in 16 months According to a report by Golden Finance, Japanese investors withdrew a large amount of funds from overseas bond markets in February, reaching a 16 month high. This was due to the decline in US bond yields and the rebound in Japanese bond yields, making local bonds more attractive. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japanese investors sold a net 3.07 trillion yen ($19.37 billion) worth of overseas bonds last month, marking the largest monthly net sale since October 2024 when they sold 6.5 trillion yen. Among them, Japanese investors sold foreign long-term bonds worth 3.42 trillion yen, reaching a 16 month high, but at the same time net purchased about 352.1 billion yen of foreign short-term bonds. In February, Japanese investors net bought 642.1 billion yen worth of foreign stocks, marking the second consecutive month of net purchases. Barclays pointed out that this round of buying is mainly driven by demand related to Japanese personal savings accounts (NISA). NISA is a personal tax-free stock investment program launched by the Japanese government, aimed at converting trillions of yen in household cash into stock market investments. Another report from the Bank of Japan shows that Japanese investors net purchased 279.4 billion yen of US bonds and 660.96 billion yen of European bonds in January.