KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 2): Foreign investors offloaded RM967.3 million of Malaysian equity last week compared with RM477.7 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 this was the highest weekly attrition recorded since the week ended November 18 last year.

“International investors were net sellers on every single trading day last week.

“As of last Friday, foreign investors had been selling for eight days straight, the longest selling spree since December last year,” it said.

The research house said foreign attrition peaked on Tuesday as foreigners disposed US$254.8 million, the largest outflow recorded in a day this year so far.

It said the heavy selloff on Tuesday coincided with the 0.20% dip in the FBM KLCI following the North Korea’s perception of President Trump’s Twitter comments as a proclamation of war.

“For the month of September, cumulative foreign net outflow amounted to RM737.3 million, a second consecutive month of attrition.

“As a result, the cumulative net inflow thus far this year into shares listed on Bursa was dragged down to RM9.61 billion, below the RM10 billion level. Henceforth, the number of weekly attritions has reached a double digit of 10,” it said.

MIDF Research said that on a quarterly basis, funds into Malaysia experienced a reversal of trend as 3Q17 had a foreign outflow of RM558.3 million net, which is a stark contrast from 2Q17’s foreign net inflow RM4.43 billion.

“Foreign participation rate gained momentum last week as the foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) surged by a staggering 46% to reach above the RM1 billion mark to settle at RM1.26 billion.

“Gross trade of foreigners were above RM1 billion on four out of five trading days,” it said.

MIDF Research said it was the other way around for the retail market as the retail ADTV decreased by 8% to drop below the RM1 billion mark.