US investors are continuing to buy Asian equities – overall they prefer Japanese and Taiwanese equities, Bratton said in a note. However, they are adding in both Hong Kong/China and India incrementally into the year-end, though not at a scale suggestive of large-scale capital reallocations.

Asian investors are also continuing to buy US equities in volume but at a slowing rate. Current buying is concentrated in Singapore and South Korea, Bratton continued.

The statement – following new data from the US Treasury’s International Capital (TIC) system released in February – shows that US investors remained buyers of Asian equities in the fourth quarter of 2025, making $9 billion of net purchases over the quarter. This took their total 2025 purchases of Asian equities to $80 billion, of which $35 billion (44 per cent) went to Japan, $15 billion to China/Hong Kong, $12 billion to Taiwan, $11 billion to South Korea, $5 billion to India, and $2 billion to southeast Asia.

However, these annual totals mask some more recent trends in terms of US investor behaviour. The fourth quarter of 2025 saw a pick-up of their interest in India, Taiwan, and southeast Asia, while their interest in Japanese equities slowed into the year-end, Bratton said. South Korean equities saw the single largest one-month inflow in December from US investors in more than three years – although this served to balance out the earlier net selling in October and November. Finally, US investors were net buyers of Hong Kong/China equities in the second half 2025 and fourth quarter of 2025 – a reversal of the second half of 2024 and first half of 2025 selling – but at a small scale, reflecting Bratton’s view that large-scale capital reallocations to the country are yet to be seen.

Nevertheless, total US holdings in Hong Kong/China equities reached $415 billion as of end-2025, up on the $280 billion at the start of 2024, the data shows. These holdings are also less than the $250 billion held by US investors in Japan and the $668 billion in Taiwan, as of end-2025. Total holdings of Asian equities by US investors closed end-2025 at $3,624 billion.

Asian investment in US equities
Asian investors remain large buyers of US equities with more than $128 billion of net purchases in 2025, Bratton said. However, this buying slowed in the second half of 2025 with $23 billion of US equities bought by Asian investors in the fourth quarter of 2025. This resulted from the declining interest in US equities by Japanese investors through 2025 – they net sold $30 billion of US equities in the fourth quarter of 2025 with three months of consecutive selling.

In contrast, Singapore investors bought $30 billion of US equities in the fourth quarter of 2025, taking their total purchases to $79 billion in 2025. South Korean investors is also increasing his exposure to emerging markets. See more coverage here and here.