Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks for the fourth straight week last week, with their buying excess hitting the highest level in more than a year.

They bought 386.54 billion yen more than they sold on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya bourses, 8.8 times the week-before level of 43.96 billion yen, according to a weekly industry report. The figure was the largest since the 517 billion yen set in the second week of December 1999.

Foreign investors have adjusted their oversold Japanese positions as calm has returned to the New York stock market, brokerage officials said.