KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 5): Foreign selling of Malaysian equity on Bursa Malaysia accelerated significantly to RM601.2 million last week from RM53.5 million the prior week, according to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Research.

In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research's Adam M Rahim said this was the largest weekly foreign net outflow in 11 weeks.

"A marginal level of foreign net buying was observed on Monday at only RM250,000 before markets were closed on Tuesday in conjunction with the coronation of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.

"As markets reopened on Wednesday foreign net selling swelled to RM334.3 million net, the highest in a day since May 16 net ahead of the Federal Reserve (Fed)'s policy meeting in addition to the US-China trade talks which saw no major breakthrough," he said.

Nevertheless, Adam said August started on a positive note as foreign investors mopped up RM40.6 million on Thursday driven by Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd's share price, which surged 6.8% as it signed a power purchase agreement with Syarikat SESCO Bhd, a unit of Sarawak Energy Bhd, to secure power for its capacity expansion in Sarawak. This outweighed the disappointment from the Fed's signal that the easing cycle will not be aggressive ahead.

"Havoc wreaked on Friday as foreign net selling returned to levels above RM300 million at RM307.8 million, pulling the local bourse down by 0.8% to the lowest close in more than a month at 1,626.8 points. The high amount of foreign net outflows was in conformity with other regional peers, namely Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan, following President Trump's plan to impose a 10% tariff on a further US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports.

"The month of July recorded a foreign net outflow of RM79.2 million, marking the fifth month of foreign net outflow for the year (highest or lowest)," he said.

Adam said on a year-to-date basis, the foreign net outflow from Malaysia stands at RM5.01 billion.

"In contrast, the other six Asian markets we monitor (Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Taiwan and the Philippines) have seen a foreign net inflow so far for the year with India being the largest," he said.