Foreign Sell-Off Narrows to ¥174.7bn as Trust Banks Flip From Buyers to ¥200.3bn Sellers (TSE Prime, Week of Aug 24)A · FULL TRANSLATION
- Foreigners net-sold ¥174.7bn this week, more than halving the ¥376.3bn of the first week of August we last tracked.
- Trust banks are the swing factor: from ¥167.8bn net buying in the first week to ¥200.3bn net selling now, a ¥368.1bn reversal.
- Individuals flipped from ¥688.8bn net buying in the third week to ¥53.5bn net selling in the fourth.
- Investment trusts kept selling, a net ¥56.9bn this week.
- Foreigners' share of brokerage trading value fell from 68.0% to 64.6%.
In our last edition (first week of August) foreign investors' net selling had widened to ¥376.3bn and corporates set a record ¥1.07tn of net buying. Weeks two and three did not get a standalone piece, so this edition jumps to the latest release, the fourth week of August (Aug 24-28). The biggest shift over the three weeks is not among foreigners but at the trust banks — a common proxy for pension money — which swung from ¥167.8bn of net buying to ¥200.3bn of net selling, a ¥368.1bn reversal. Foreigners themselves sold a net ¥174.7bn this week, more than halving the ¥376.3bn we tracked in the first week, so the selling pressure has clearly eased even if the direction is still down. Individuals turned too: after net buying of ¥688.8bn in the third week they flipped to ¥53.5bn of net selling in the fourth, as retail chasing cooled. Investment trusts stayed on the sell side (¥56.9bn). One more signal to watch is who drives the tape: foreigners' share of brokerage trading value slipped from 68.0% to 64.6%, down 3.4 points, so this week was less of a one-way foreign story and domestic money mattered more. The open question is whether the trust-bank selling is short-term adjustment or a turn, and whether retail's pullback lasts.
First, the net buy/sell balances by investor type. The chart below places the third week of August (Aug 17-21) next to the latest fourth week (Aug 24-28):
Foreigners' net selling shrank from ¥414.1bn to ¥174.7bn; individuals swung from ¥688.8bn of net buying to ¥53.5bn of net selling; investment trusts sold in both weeks (¥60.6bn then ¥56.9bn); trust banks were the biggest sellers for a second week (¥522.6bn then ¥200.3bn), and versus our last edition (first week of August) they have flipped from ¥167.8bn of net buying.
Next, market share. The chart below shows each sector's share of brokerage trading value this week:
Foreigners remain the largest player at 64.6%, but that is down 3.4 points from 68.0% in the previous edition; individuals 28.7%, institutions 6.4%, securities firms 0.3%.
On the four comparison baselines: the JPX weekly report only carries this week and the prior week, with no year-on-year or pre-pandemic (2019) columns, so the baselines here are the prior week and the first week of August we last tracked; the others are not provided in the source.
[Key figures translated from JPX 'Trading by Type of Investors', TSE Prime, all 51 participants, value basis]
Target week: fourth week of August 2026 (Aug 24-28). Unit: thousand yen.
Total trading value (buy+sell) was about ¥84.90tn. Net balances by brokerage (customer-order) trading:
- Foreigners: sold ¥24.47tn, bought ¥24.29tn; net selling of about ¥174.7bn. - Individuals: sold ¥10.88tn, bought ¥10.82tn; net selling of about ¥53.5bn. - Institutions (business corporations, investment trusts, other): net selling of about ¥41.7bn; within it, investment trusts sold a net ¥56.9bn and business corporations bought a net ¥212.7bn. - Financial institutions: net selling of about ¥244.6bn; within it, trust banks sold a net ¥200.3bn. - Securities companies: net selling of about ¥3.2bn.
Share of brokerage trading value: foreigners 64.6%, individuals 28.7%, institutions 6.4%, securities firms 0.3%.
JPX publishes this report at 15:30 on the fourth business day of each week, covering all trading participants on the TSE Prime market. A positive balance is net buying, negative is net selling. (Figures in yen billions/trillions are rounded from the source thousand-yen data under the public-data terms of use.)