Japan Funds Ramp Up Treasury Purchases Amid US Banking Turmoil

  • They net bought US bonds in 1Q after five quarters of selling
  • Treasuries rallied in March after collapse of two US lenders
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Japanese investors bought a record amount of Treasuries in the first three months of the year as concern over the US banking sector damped bets on Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Net purchases totaled ¥9.12 trillion ($68 billion) in the January-March period, the most in any quarter in the Asian nation’s balance-of-payments data going back to 2005. That’s about half the amount Japanese funds had sold in the preceding five quarters.