July 11 Reuters Foreign investors made hefty investments in Japanese stocks in the week ended July 5, driven by a market rally and optimism over the outlook for solid corporate earnings in the second half of the year.

According to exchange data, overseas investors bought Japanese stocks worth a net 916.05 billion yen 5.67 billion last week, their biggest weekly net purchase since Jan. 12.

Investors snapped up derivative contracts of around 732.36 billion yen while securing cash equities of about 183.69 billion yen on a net basis.

The Nikkei share average jumped 3.36 last week, registering its best weekly gain since March 22. The broader Topix index advanced 2.65.

The Nikkei hit an alltime high on Thursday, crossing 42,000 points for the first time, and the Topix index hit a record closing high of 2,929.17.

Gains in U.S. megacap growth stocks last week also lifted Japanese technology shares, with SoftBank Group soaring 8.04 and semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest rising 3.2.

Conversely, overseas investors pulled back from Japanese bonds for a fourth consecutive week, selling longterm bonds worth a net 228.8 billion yen and shortterm instruments totalling 876.9 billion yen, Ministry of Finance data showed.

Meanwhile, Japanese investors snapped a twoweek selling streak in overseas debt markets last week. They secured longterm foreign bonds of a net 237.7 billion yen and shortterm securities of about 96.6 billion yen.

Japanese investors, meanwhile,…