Foreign investors sold a net 544 billion yen ($3.77 billion) of Japanese stocks last week, their first net selling in 13 weeks, data from the Ministry of Finance showed.

The figure suggests that after a rally that saw the Topix index climb to a 33-year high this month, an advance mainly driven by demand from overseas investors, their appetite for Japanese stocks may be waning.

Data from exchanges showed last week that foreign investors sold a large amount of stock futures, likely to hedge after sharp gains in stock prices.