By Reuters

(Reuters) - Foreign investors bought Japanese stocks for the eighth straight week through May 23, as oil prices eased and ​AI-related shares rallied on robust demand outlook.

Foreigners invested ‌a net 1.08 trillion yen ($6.77 billion) in Japanese stocks in the week ended May 23, a near 14% rise from 948.4 ​billion yen of net purchases the prior week, ​data from the Ministry of Finance showed on ⁠Thursday.

Foreign flows into Japanese stocks in billion yen

The tech sector attracted investments as Nvidia (NVDA.O) forecast blockbuster ​demand for its flagship AI chips last week.

AI investor SoftBank ​Group (9984.T) surged 17.62% last week, while chip designer Socionext (6526.T) rallied 12.26%.

Foreigners have so far pumped nearly 11.7 trillion yen into Japanese stocks ​this year, compared with roughly 742.1 billion yen ​of net purchase in the same period last year.

Japanese long-term bonds saw ‌a ⁠net purchase of 1.35 trillion yen after outflows of 1.03 trillion in the prior week, as a bond selloff eased and higher yields attracted investors.

Foreigners, however, divested ​2.22 trillion yen ​of short-term ⁠instruments, the most since March 28.

Foreign flows into Japanese debt securities in billion yen

Elsewhere, Japanese investors withdrew a net 358.7 billion yen ​from foreign equities, marking their third weekly ​net ⁠sale in four.

Japanese investments in overseas stocks in billion yen

They, however, invested a marginal 10.3 billion yen in long-term foreign bonds, extending buying to a fourth ⁠straight week.

Japanese investments in overseas debt securities in billion yen

($1 = ​159.5300 yen)

Reporting by Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu

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