Foreigners' selling of Japanese stocks hits highest since mid-March last week

(Reuters) - Foreigners turned net sellers of Japanese equities last week after three straight weeks of purchases, marking their biggest net offload since mid-March on renewed concerns about rising coronavirus cases and its impact on economic recovery.

Overseas investors were net sellers of stocks worth 727.26 billion yen ($6.90 billion) in the week ended July 31, data from Japanese stock exchanges showed.

(GRAPHIC - Foreign flows into Japanese stocks: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/gjnvwxrnrpw/Foreign%20flows%20into%20Japanese%20stocks.jpg)

They sold a net 462.43 billion yen worth of shares in cash markets, and 264.83 billion yen worth of derivatives.

Japan's Nikkei index <.N225> and Topix <.TOPX> both plummeted more than 4.5% last week, marking their steepest decline since early April, as fresh daily COVID-19 cases spiked and dampened hopes of a swift economic rebound.

Dismal earnings results from several Japanese firms also dented investor sentiment. Canon Inc <7751.T>, Nissan Motor Co <7201.T> and Mitsubishi Motors Corp <7211.T> all reported quarterly loss.[nL3N2EZ28M ]

Meanwhile, Japanese investors offloaded overseas equities worth a net 919.3 billion yen, marking a fourth successive week of net selling, finance ministry data showed.

(GRAPHIC - Japanese investments in stocks abroad: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/azgvoklxevd/Japanese%20investments%20in%20stocks%20abroad.jpg)

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra, Patturaja Murugaboopathy; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)