Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks for the fourth week in a row last week, apparently banking on signs of an economic recovery in Japan.

Nonresidents chalked up 74.26 billion yen in net purchases on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges in the holiday-shortened week, compared with 20.77 billion yen the previous week, according to a weekly industry report.

This is the longest duration of net buying since the six-week excess buying set between late October and early December, offering fresh evidence of a growing shift in a global flow of investment funds into Japanese stocks.