Choicetou Finance learned that after the worst day for the Japanese stock market since 1987 in early August, retail investors have been selling Japanese stocks for the fourth consecutive week, setting the longest selling record in three months. According to data from the Japan Exchange Group, retail investors net sold 110.7 billion yen (0.773 billion US dollars) of cash stocks in the week ending August 30. In the three weeks before the stock market crash in August, they had been net buyers of Japanese stocks. Foreign investors were also net sellers last week, when the benchmark TOPIX index rose 1%, they sold 245.1 billion yen.

Despite the consecutive two-day decline in the Japanese stock market on Thursday, causing panic among investors, strategists say that the magnitude of the decline and the market dynamics seem to be different from the three-day decline that ended in a crash on August 5. The Nikkei 225 index, which is mainly composed of technology stocks, opened down 1.9%, but then quickly narrowed, and even saw a turnaround in a short period of time. The benchmark TOPIX index also experienced a similar situation. The Nikkei 225 index eventually fell by 1.05%, and the TOPIX index fell by 0.48%.

One factor amplifying the decline in August is the forced selling by retail investors in Japan, who had to liquidate their inflated margin trading positions. Yusuke Sakai, a senior trader at Tokyo T&D Asset Management, said, 'These positions have been liquidated. We are unlikely to see panic selling like before.'

A closer look reveals that financial stocks with double-digit percentage declines led the decline of the Japanese stock market, but the recent weakness in financial stocks has been relatively mild and more concentrated in semiconductor-related stocks and companies exposed to the csi commodity equity index market. The market volume in the first three trading days of September also decreased by about 43% compared to the same period last month. Last month, the Bank of Japan's hawkish monetary policy stance overturned the forex market and interest rate trading strategies. Compared to August, Japan is currently not at the center of global market volatility, and the volatility of the Tokyo stock market this month is not as significant as in other regions.

However, following the 3.7% decline in the TOPIX index on Wednesday, the weakness on Thursday may keep investors highly vigilant of potential risks. Takeo Kamai, Head of Execution Services at Leon Japan, said, 'Yesterday's decline makes me think that the market is still unstable, and it was too exhausting last month with such historic volatility. It is incomparable to what is happening now.'