May 28 (Reuters) - Foreign investors bought Japanese

stocks for the eighth straight week through May 23, as oil

prices eased and AI-related shares rallied on robust demand

outlook.

Foreigners invested a net 1.08 trillion yen ($6.77 billion)

in Japanese stocks in the week ended May 23, a near 14% rise

from 948.4 billion yen of net purchases the prior week, data

from the Ministry of Finance showed on Thursday.

The tech sector attracted investments as Nvidia ( NVDA )

forecast blockbuster demand for its flagship AI chips last week.

AI investor SoftBank Group surged 17.62% last week,

while chip designer Socionext ( SOCNF ) rallied 12.26%.

Foreigners have so far pumped nearly 11.7 trillion yen into

Japanese stocks this year, compared with roughly 742.1 billion

yen of net purchase in the same period last year.

Japanese long-term bonds saw a net purchase of 1.35 trillion

yen after outflows of 1.03 trillion in the prior week, as a bond

selloff eased and higher yields attracted investors.

Foreigners, however, divested 2.22 trillion yen of

short-term instruments, the most since March 28.

Elsewhere, Japanese investors withdrew a net 358.7 billion

yen from foreign equities, marking their third weekly net sale

in four.

They, however, invested a marginal 10.3 billion yen in

long-term foreign bonds, extending buying to a fourth straight

week.

($1 = 159.5300 yen)