KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): Foreign tide into Bursa was marginal last week, with investors buying a paltry RM49.4 million compared to RM501.5 million the prior week, according to MIDF Research.

In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research head Zulkifli Hamzah said the fatigue in foreign net inflow was arguably due to foreigners' anxiety on the uncertainty surrounding US monetary policy.

He said pursuant to the marginal inflow, foreign net buying on Bursa had been extended for the eighth week.

"Investors classified as 'foreigners' were net sellers on Tuesday (RM31.4 million), Wednesday (RM31.4 million) and Friday (RM5.9 million) and were net buyers on Monday (RM53.5 million) and Thursday (RM64.6 million).

"Buying activities among foreigners were much weaker as recent Fed officials' comments on the timing of US rate hike have potentially kept foreign investors on hold. They were also digesting numbers as companies [are] announcing their earnings during the quarterly financial reporting season," he said.

Zulkifli said that as of last Friday (Aug 26), the year-to-date cumulative net foreign inflow into shares listed on Bursa has breached the RM2.5 billion level at RM2.54 billion, up marginally from RM2.49 billion in the preceding week.

In retrospect, foreigners had offloaded RM19.5 billion in 2015 and RM6.9 billion in 2014, he said.

Zulkifli said foreign participation rate had deteriorated further last week. It dipped to RM659 million from RM774.9 million a week ago, he added.

"It was the first time it dropped below the RM700 million level thus far this year. Meanwhile, it has been staying below the RM1 billion level for 11 times in the past 12 weeks.

"Local institutions were net sellers for the eighth successive week by offloading RM102.8 million.

"However, the selling has abated compared to RM558.5 million in the previous week," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the participation rate declined slightly to RM2.02 billion from RM2.4 billion week-on-week.

Zulkifli said retail buyers continued to be net buyers on Bursa for the second week. They bought RM53.4 million last week, after a net buying of RM57 million in the week before, he added.

"Meanwhile, their participation rate dwindled significantly to RM624.6 million from RM812 million the week prior," he said.