Yen Weakens After Japanese Investors Buy More Overseas Assets

June 25 (Bloomberg) -- The yen fell against the euro and the dollar after a government report today showed Japanese investors bought more overseas stocks and bonds than they sold for a seventh week.

Japan’s currency also weakened as an advance in Asian stocks boosted speculation the nation’s employees will use their summer bonuses to purchase higher-yielding assets abroad. Finance companies in Japan are looking to raise 520 billion yen ($5.4 billion) for their mutual funds focused on foreign assets this week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The global environment for investors’ risk-taking is gradually improving,” said Tsutomu Soma, a bond and currency dealer at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The bias is for the yen to be sold, especially as trust funds are being launched to attract bonuses.”

The yen declined to 133.99 per euro as of 9:49 a.m. in Tokyo from 133.23 in New York yesterday. Japan’s currency also fell to 95.95 against the dollar from 95.66. The dollar weakened to $1.3966 versus the euro from $1.3930.

Japanese investors bought 336.1 billion yen more foreign bonds, stocks and short-term securities than they sold in the week to June 20, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 1.1 percent and the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index of regional shares rose 0.1 percent.