Japanese stocks see biggest weekly foreign fund outflow in two decades

April 2 (Reuters) - Japanese stocks saw the largest weekly foreign fund outflow in two decades in the week through March 28, as surging oil prices driven by the Middle East war raised fears of weaker global growth and corporate earnings.

Foreigners dumped a net 4.45 trillion yen ($27.92 billion) of Japanese stocks in their largest weekly net sales since at least January 2005, since when the statistics are available with the Ministry of Finance in Japan.

Foreigners have divested nearly 8.35 trillion yen worth of Japanese shares since the war in Iran started on February 28.

Markets recoiled on Thursday as war jitters over Iran intensified, with stocks falling, oil surging after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington could strike Iran "extremely hard" within weeks, dashing hopes for clarity on when the Middle East conflict might end.

Japanese bonds faced a sharp 6.81 trillion yen worth of foreign outflows, the largest for a week since December 2022.

Foreigners ditched long-term Japanese bonds of 2.65 trillion yen and short-term bonds of 4.16 trillion yen in their largest weekly net sales since December 27, 2025.

Elsewhere, Japanese investors added a net 140.6 billion yen worth of foreign stocks as they extended their recent streak of net purchases to a sixth successive week.

They, however, sold long-term foreign bonds of 945.4 billion yen and short-term bonds of 224.4 billion yen.

($1 = 159.3600 yen)