Foreigners buy Japanese stocks for eighth straight week

Foreigners were net buyers of Japanese stocks for an eighth consecutive week on hopes there would be some progress in US-China trade talks and expectations of fiscal stimulus to boost the domestic economy.

Net purchases including cash equities and futures came in at 363.88 billion yen ($3.4 billion) in the week ended Nov. 29, data from Japanese stock exchanges showed.

Cross-border investors bought a net 404.2 billion yen in cash markets, but sold 40.32 billion yen in derivative markets, the data showed. Last week, the Nikkei index gained 0.8% and the Topix index rose 0.5%, both snapping two straight weeks of losses.

They received an early boost last week on signs that trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing might be moving forward but pared some gains after US President Donald Trump signed into law a congressional legislation backing protesters in Hong Kong.

Japanese stocks are firmer this week after President Trump said on Wednesday that trade talks with China were going "very well", reinforcing expectations of an interim trade deal.

Japan is preparing an economic stimulus package worth $120 billion to support fragile growth, sources also said this week. Japanese investors bought 210 billion yen worth of overseas equities last week, their first weekly net buying in three weeks, Finance Ministry data showed.