Europeans jump back into Japan's stock market

TOKYO: It's official...European investors have returned to the Japanese stock market. Net purchases by European funds have risen to the highest in 1 1/2 years, tracking the Nikkei's ascent to 15-year peaks as Japan Inc pledged to bump up shareholder returns.

European investors turned buyers of Japanese stocks in March, with their net purchases reaching 211.3 billion yen (US$1.7 billion). In April, their net buying more than tripled to 758.5 billion yen, the highest since December 2013, data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange shows.