Jan 18 (Reuters) - Foreign investors piled into Japanese stocks in the week ended Jan. 12, as the Nikkei broke above key levels boosted by a rally in chip-related shares, while an easing of concerns about the Bank of Japan's impending rate hike boosted appetite.

According to data from exchanges, foreigners invested about 1.45 trillion yen ($9.81 billion) into Japanese equities on a net basis during the week, the most since April 14, 2023.

They secured about 955.71 billion yen of cash equities and around 495.41 billion yen of derivatives on a net basis.

The Nikkei gained about 6.6% last week, the most in a week since mid-March 2022, thanks to a break above some key resistances around 33,750.

The index surged to a fresh 34-year peak of 36,239.22 on Wednesday, but retreated sharply later in the session.

Technology related shares - Tokyo Electron, Advantest, and Nintendo - all gained over 8% last week.

Long-term Japanese bonds received a net 980.2 billion yen of overseas capital last week, the most in four weeks. Foreigners, however, sold about 371.3 billion yen of short-term debt instruments.

Japanese investors, meanwhile, poured a massive 1.64 trillion yen into long-term foreign bonds, their biggest weekly net purchase in four weeks. They also secured roughly 131.6 billion yen of short-term debt securities.

Additionally, they accumulated about 783.3 billion yen of overseas equities last week, posting their highest weekly net buying since Jan. 6, 2022. ($1 = 147.7800 yen)

(Reporting by Gaurav Dogra in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)