Japanese stocks draw foreign inflows for ninth week in a row

June 8 (Reuters) - Foreign investors extended their net buying streak of Japanese equities for a ninth week, supported by positive global risk sentiment and a rally in domestic semiconductor-related stocks.

Foreigners purchased 342.18 billion yen ($2.45 billion) of Japanese equities last week, data from exchanges showed. They purchased cash equities of 535.25 billion yen but sold 193.07 billion yen worth of derivatives.

Their total net purchases of Japanese shares for this year amount to approximately 6.65 trillion yen, a significant increase compared to the net selling of about 1.73 trillion yen during the same period last year.

Last week, the technology investor SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) jumped over 16% fueled by increasing investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence-related stocks, while chip-testing equipment maker Advantest Corp (6857.T) advanced 4.42%.

The Nikkei index (.N225) surged 1.97% to post its eighth weekly rise in a row last week, while the broader Topix index (.TOPX) climbed 1.72%.

Earlier in the week, the Nikkei hit its highest since July 1990 but dropped 1.82% on Wednesday as investors doubted if the rally could be sustained. The index had surged about 15% in the past eight weeks.

Meanwhile, Japanese long-term bonds saw foreign outflows for a second week, amounting to a net 537.9 billion yen. Short-term bonds, however, drew 1.84 billion yen worth of foreign money.

On the other hand, Japanese investors secured 524.7 billion yen worth of long-term overseas bonds in a fourth straight week of net buying. They also drew short-term debt securities of 116.2 billion yen after a weekly net selling.

In foreign equities, Japanese invested a net of 137.5 billion yen after two weeks of net selling in a row. ($1 = 139.8000 yen)

Foreign flows into Japanese stocks & futures

Foreign flows into Japanese debt securities

Japanese investments in overseas debt securities

Japanese investments in stocks abroad