Foreign investors sold Japanese equities for a fourth straight week due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak in China.

They sold a net 208.26 billion yen ($1.90 billion) of Japanese stocks, including cash equities and futures in the week ended Jan. 24, data from Japanese stock exchanges showed.

Investors sold a net 136.76 billion yen worth of derivatives, and 71.5 billion yen in cash markets, according to the data.

Investment appetite was muted last week on fears that the spread of coronavirus will have impact on the global economy.

The death toll from the virus has jumped to 170 as of late-Wednesday, China's National Health Commission said.

The World Health Organisation will decide on Thursday whether the rapid spread of the virus now constitutes a global emergency.

Last week, the Topix index fell 0.3% and the Nikkei index shed 0.9%. Both marked their first weekly decline in three. The indexes have sharply dropped further this week to ten-week lows.

On the other hand, Japanese investors purchased 167.1 billion yen worth of overseas equities last week, their biggest weekly net buying in six weeks, finance ministry data showed.