Foreign Investors Turned Net Sellers of ¥258.7bn in Japanese Stocks in Mid-July as Individuals Bought the DipA · FULL TRANSLATION
- In the week of July 13-17, foreign investors net sold ¥258.7bn of TSE Prime stocks (value basis), reversing from ¥517.2bn net buying the week before — a ¥775.9bn swing in one week
- Individual investors net bought ¥372.9bn the same week after net selling ¥101.2bn the week prior, taking the exact opposite side of foreign flows
- Investment trusts stayed net sellers for a second week but the pace shrank from ¥626.3bn to ¥75.7bn; trust banks, the main pension conduit, remained net buyers for a second week
- Foreigners accounted for 66.6% of brokerage trading value that week, individuals 28.6% — foreign investors still set the price of Japanese equities
This weekly series tracks one question with JPX's investor-type data: who is buying Japanese stocks and who is selling. The week of July 13-17 delivered a clean reversal sample on the TSE Prime value basis — foreign investors net sold ¥258.7bn after net buying ¥517.2bn the week before, a ¥775.9bn swing in one week. Individuals did the mirror image: net buyers of ¥372.9bn after net selling ¥101.2bn. Stacked together, it is the textbook counter-trade — retail takes profits when foreigners chase, and buys the dip when foreigners trim. The supporting cast matters too: investment trusts stayed net sellers for a second week but the pace collapsed from ¥626.3bn to ¥75.7bn, and trust banks — the main conduit for pension money — remained slow, steady net buyers. The structure is unchanged: foreigners accounted for 66.6% of brokerage trading value that week against 28.6% for individuals, so foreign flows still set the direction of Japanese equities; retail buying cushions volatility rather than reversing it. For readers holding Japanese stocks or yen assets, the practical rule for this series: a single week of ¥200-300bn foreign net selling is routine position-trimming. Three or more consecutive weeks, combined with trust banks stepping back, is what a trend signal looks like. Neither has happened yet. Next instalment: the fourth week of July.
Japan Exchange Group's weekly Trading by Type of Investors (TSE Prime, value basis, all 51 trading participants) for the third week of July 2026 (July 13-17), summary translation: total trading value (sales plus purchases) was roughly ¥110.7tn. Within brokerage trading, institutions sold ¥2.29tn and bought ¥2.35tn for net purchases of ¥58.1bn; individuals sold ¥14.49tn and bought ¥14.87tn for net purchases of ¥372.9bn; foreign investors sold ¥34.24tn and bought ¥33.98tn for net sales of ¥258.7bn; securities companies were net buyers of ¥4.4bn. Within institutions, investment trusts net sold ¥75.7bn, business corporations net bought ¥113.9bn, and financial institutions net bought ¥33.7bn, of which trust banks net bought ¥61.7bn. Prior week (July 6-10) comparison: foreigners net bought ¥517.2bn, individuals net sold ¥101.2bn, investment trusts net sold ¥626.3bn, trust banks net bought ¥228.7bn. Note: the survey covers trading participants with capital of at least ¥3bn, domestic common stocks only, including ToSTNeT trades; minus denotes net sales.