Foreigners pumped a net ¥1.14 trillion (US$7.20 billion) into domestic stocks during the week, their largest weekly net purchase since October 25, data from Japan’s finance ministry showed on Friday.

The Nikkei and the Topix, major domestic equity benchmarks, scaled record-high levels, after each having witnessed gains of more than 3% last week.

A soft yen, which weakened to 18-month low against the dollar this week, enhanced the earnings outlook for local exporters and bolstered foreign appetite.

Foreigners, meanwhile, bought Japanese long-term bonds of ¥1 trillion, the most for a week in four weeks, and short-term bills of ¥3.59 trillion, in their largest net purchase since early-May 2024.

The benchmark 10-year JGB yield reached 2.180% on Wednesday, the highest since February 1999. Yields move inversely to bond prices.

Japanese weekly net investments in foreign stocks were at ¥27.5 billion in the most recent week, down from ¥236.6 billion in the previous week.

Meanwhile, in foreign bond markets, they added long-term debt securities of ¥101.1 billion after two successive weeks of net withdrawals.