Individual investors turned net buyers of stocks for the first time in four months in January.

They purchased 188.8 billion yen more than they sold on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges in a turnaround from net sales of 25 billion yen in December.

Their net purchases topped 100 billion yen for the first time since January 2000.

The net buying breaks down into 96.7 billion yen in cash trading and 92.1 billion yen in margin trading. Attention should be paid to the amount of net buying in cash trading.

According to data since 1992, net buying in cash trading by individual investors topped 100 billion yen in five months -- 130.6 billion yen in March 1992, 168.9 billion yen the following month, 159 billion yen in March 1995, 101.4 billion yen in August 1998 and 157.9 billion yen in September. The 225-issue Nikkei average was in the final stage of downtrends on those occasions.

On a yearly basis, buying at bottom prices took place on all but the latest occasion.

Those findings may be taken to indicate the stock market will touch bottom soon.

Net buying by individual investors reflects their view that the market is about to bottom out. It mirrors a shift in preference ahead of the March 31 expiry of the government's full guarantee on deposits amid the continuation of razor-thin interest rates, as well as moves to adjust portfolios by taking advantage of preferential measures for investment introduced by the government late last year.

I often talk to individual investors at stock seminars, and enthusiasm about investment, especially shown by men, beginners and people planning to resume investments, has become noticeable wherever discussions are held.

The government is aggressively working out a comprehensive package of antideflation measures. Steps to stimulate stock trading place too much emphasis on the active use of the new organ to buy shares to be liquidated by banks, and tougher restrictions on short sales.

Because a key issue for stock trading is how to lure consumers' financial assets, worth 1.4 quadrillion yen, to the market, the government should adopt measures to take advantage of individuals' emerging trends toward active investment.