Foreign investors continued to snap up Japanese stocks last week, with their total net buy orders from the start of this year exceeding record-high annual buying set in 1999, Tokyo Stock Exchange data showed Friday. Foreigners bought a net Y323.42 billion worth of shares listed on the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya stock exchanges in the week ended Nov. 18. That was higher than in the previous week, when non-resident investors bought Y233.64 billion worth of shares on a net basis. Since the start of this year, foreign investors have bought a net Y9.4416 trillion of Japanese stocks. Although annual buy/sell orders could fluctuate either way before the year ends, their accumulated net buy orders so far this year are higher than the record Y9.1277 trillion in net buying by foreigners in 1999. Last week, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average rallied 3.3% to hit a near-five-year closing high.