The total financial assets held by all households at the end of December rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier to ¥1.547 quadrillion, the Bank of Japan said Monday.
The rise was credited partly to higher market values for foreign currency-denominated deposits and stocks following the government's verbal bludgeoning of the yen and subsequent rise in share prices, it said.
The BOJ also credited the rise to an increase in cash and deposits. The outstanding balance of households' financial assets, including securities, gained 4.4 percent from a year ago to ¥1.193 quadrillion, the second-highest on a calendar year basis.
Government bonds held by overseas investors, wary of the eurozone debt woes, rose 7.4 percent from a year earlier to ¥84.00 trillion, the BOJ's quarterly survey said.