(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s retail investors purchased a record amount of domestic stocks last week, as the equity market sank on concerns ranging from tensions in the Middle East and the path of US interest rates to the chip industry outlook.

They added net ¥909 billion ($5.84 billion) of cash equities, surpassing the previous record of ¥754 billion marked in March last year, according to data from Japan Exchange Group Inc.

“There seems to be increased interest from domestic retail investors toward Japanese equities as a result of the Nikkei 225 hitting a record high,” said Kei Okamura, senior vice president at investment manager Neuberger Berman East Asia.

The Nikkei earlier this year rose above its historic peak marked in 1989, driven by factors including a weaker yen, hopes of improving corporate governance and signs inflation is taking hold. 

Japanese retail investors are known to have a contrarian style of trading, buying when the market is down and selling when it is up. But data from the stock exchange suggests they have become more eager to buy Japanese stocks this year than previously.

The Topix last week sank the most in almost two years, tracking falls in global equities. The biggest selling came from foreign investors, who offloaded net ¥592.5 billion, their largest amount since September.

Including their transactions in futures, they dumped ¥1.135 trillion of Japanese equities, the second time their sales topped ¥1 trillion this year.

--With assistance from Momoka Yokoyama.

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