Flows into Japanese funds hit a record ¥1.92trn ($13.1bn) in July as investors piled back into Japanese stocks ahead of this month’s sell-off.
Japanese stocks already fell slightly in early July before entering bear market territory this month and investors took advantage of the lower prices to pile into shares, with inflows into Japan equity funds hitting ¥190bn in July compared with ¥6.9bn in June, according to Morningstar Direct data.
Flows were concentrated mostly in the large-cap space, where valuations are already stretched, with inflows coming in at ¥82.7bn for July compared with ¥67.7bn for June, while small and mid-cap stocks saw outflows of ¥22.3bn compared with outflows of ¥21.7bn for June.
Meanwhile, inflows to world equity funds also hit a record ¥1.53trn in July, which was largely due to flows into global, North America and Europe, offset by lower inflows into emerging markets and Asia and Oceania.
Flows into Japan bond funds were unremarkable at ¥23.9bn compared with ¥28.1bn for June, while world bond funds were also steady at ¥45.6bn versus ¥42.8bn for June.
Real estate investment trusts witnessed a third consecutive quarter of outflows at ¥65bn.
