KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): Foreigners were net sellers of Malaysian shares at RM54.2 million last week after they bought and sold RM1.96 billion and RM2.02 billion worth of shares respectively on the open market.

According to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd's fund flow report today, international investors continued to dispose of Malaysian stocks for the fourth straight week.

"Nonetheless, it has been the second week in a row whereby foreign selling levels have eased, declining from -RM82.9 million net in the previous week to -RM54.2 million net last week. It was the second lowest attrition experienced this year after the one recorded not so long ago in August which amounted to -RM48.5 million net. The estimates made are based on transactions in the open market which excluded off market deals.

"There was a notable peak in foreign selling on Friday at -RM73.0 million net, as the positive Malaysian data released this week, which included distributive trade and industrial production, did not act as a strong catalyst to attract foreign buying. However on the same day, the FBM KLCI slightly gained by 0.08% to settle at 1,755 points. We note that last week's foreign selloff was in conformity with what was seen in South East Asian peers, notably Indonesia and the Philippines," MIDF said.

The research house said last week's attrition reduced the cumulative net foreign inflow into Malaysian shares to RM9.47 billion, lower than the peak of RM11.08 billion in September.