Malaysia continued to witness equity selling by foreign investors last week, pushing net foreign outflows to RM211 million from RM46.4 million the previous week.
Citing MIDF Research's weekly fund flow report, net selling by investors has occurred almost every day in the past week, except for Thursday which saw net foreign inflows of RM38.5 million.
Among the counters bought are Maybank (RM16.9 million), Top Glove (RM9.9 million), IHH Healthcare Bhd (RM9.8 million) and Inari Amertron Bhd (RM8.2 million).
However, selling resumed on Friday following data showing a decline in trade growth of 14.5% year-on-year in April.
The data published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia also showed that lower domestic exports were the main reason for the fall.
MIDF said foreign investors have been net sellers of Malaysian equities for 14 of the 20 weeks this year, bringing total net foreign outflows to RM2.39 billion.
Meanwhile, local institutional investors are said to continue to be net buyers for the fourth consecutive week with an increase of RM355.6 million last week.
It is understood that they have been net buyers for 15 out of 20 weeks this year with a total net inflow of RM2.45 billion.
However, the research firm also reported continued net sales by local retailers for the third consecutive week amounting to RM144.6 million.
The local retailer has been a net seller for 11 of the 20 weeks, resulting in a total net outflow of RM51.2 million to date.
He added that, in terms of participation, there was a decrease in the average daily trading volume (ADTV) as a whole; retailers (4.8%), local institutions (5.6%) and foreigners (10.5%).
