Foreigners turned net buyers of Japan stocks

Foreigners turned net buyers of Japanese stocks for the first time in three weeks on soaring expectations that the United States and China will end their trade dispute soon, as the two countries indicated some progress in their trade talks.

Overseas investors bought a net 120.75 billion yen ($1.11 billion) of Japanese stocks, including cash equities and futures, in the week ended Oct. 11, data from the Japanese stock exchanges showed.

Cross-border investors bought a net 67.67 billion yen in derivative markets, and 53.08 billion yen in cash markets, data showed.

Last week, the Nikkei index gained 1.82% and the Topix index surged 1.42%, both marking their biggest weekly gain in four weeks.

The rally in local shares came after reports that China was open to a partial trade deal with the US, while, US President Donald Trump characterised the negotiations as "very, very good".

At the end of last week, Trump announced a partial trade deal to end a 15-month long trade war, and also suspended a threatened tariff hike on $250 billion in Chinese imports.

Japanese investors bought 48.5 billion yen worth of overseas equities during the week, their third straight week of net purchase, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.