KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 14): Foreign investors sold off RM63.1 million worth of Malaysian equity last week, after buying RM151.2 million the prior week, according to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Research.

In its weekly fund flow report today, the MIDF Research Strategy team said foreign funds were net sellers in three out of five trading days.

“Foreign selling peaked on Friday as foreigners disposed RM93.5 million net, the highest in a day since July 5.

“The attrition on Friday coincided with the FBM KLCI dropping below the 1,770 points at close and the Ringgit hitting a one-month low,” it said.

MIDF Research said the weekly outflow was in line with those seen by regional peers notably, Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan.

It said so far, foreign investors have only been net sellers for 6 weeks this year compared to last year’s 27 weeks.

“Despite last week’s foreign withdrawal, the cumulative yearto-date inflow was slightly unchanged at RM10.7 billion net compared to RM10.8 billion net in the preceding week.

“Foreign participation rate turned sluggish as the foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) declined 31% from RM895m in the prior week to RM615 million, the lowest since the first week of 2017,” it said.

The research house said retail participation remained vibrant.

It said retail ADTV remained above the RM800 million mark as it only decreased by 0.5% from RM887 million to above RM882 million last week.