Foreign investors turned net buyers of Japanese stocks last week.

Foreign investors bought 158.97 billion yen more than they sold on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya bourses in a turnaround from net sales of 138.79 billion yen the previous week, itself the first selling excess in nine weeks, according to a weekly industry report.

The considerable loss in market value among a broad array of stocks enticed foreign investors to return to the Japanese markets in search of potential gains, brokerage officials said.

Their new stock selections included telecommunication and high-technology stocks, which have taken a beating repeatedly in recent weeks.

Among domestic investors, individual investors remained net buyers for the fourth straight week, with their buying excess at 20.13 billion yen, down from 24.58 billion yen the previous week.

Individual investors opted for steel and other cyclical issues sensitive to ups and downs in domestic demand, the industrial group long neglected in recent rallies.

Long-term credit, city and regional banks logged net sales of 256.4 billion yen, against net buying of 4.3 billion yen.

They stepped up sales to unwind their cross-shareholdings ahead of the March 31 end of the business year.

Trust banks turned net sellers for the first time in three weeks, with their net sales at 42.8 billion yen, against net purchases of 90.3 billion yen the previous week.

For all of February, foreign investors bought 169.59 billion yen more than they sold, their third monthly buying excess, up from 904.48 billion yen in January.

Individual investors bought 88.09 billion yen more than they sold, a turnaround from net sales of 244.53 billion yen.