Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks for the second straight week last week.
They bought 206.93 billion yen more than they sold on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya exchanges, up from 66.2 billion yen the previous week, according to a weekly industry report.
While domestic investors retreated to the sidelines, nonresident investors stepped up purchases, apparently counting on planned economic stimulative measures.
City banks, long-term credit banks and regional banks as a group chalked up 38.9 billion yen in net selling in a turnaround from net purchases of 57.4 billion yen the previous week.
Their net purchases for all of March hit a record high of 92.9 billion yen, reflecting their stepped-up buy-back operations before closing their ledgers on the fiscal year.