KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign net selling of Malaysian equities increased last week to RM843.2 million from RM774.1 million disposed in the week before, said MIDF Research.
In comparison to its six Southeast Asian peers, Malaysia remains with the third smallest foreign net outflow on a year-to-date basis after Indonesia and the Philippines.
"Foreign investors have so far taken out RM11.9 billion net of local equities from Malaysia," MIDF Research said in its weekly fund flow report today.
The firm said as markets reopened from the public holiday, foreign investors on Tuesday had sold RM159.9 million on growing worries about a second wave of Covid-19 infections after the city of Wuhan lifted its lockdown.
It said trading volume on Bursa Malaysia skyrocketed to a record of 9.6 billion shares on Wednesday amid interest in healthcare-related counters sparked by a possible second wave of Covid-19 infections.
"The local stock barometer closed 1.3 per cent higher on the same day, supported by the RM275.0 million purchase of equities by local institutions.
"Meanwhile, foreign net selling activity inched higher to RM239.6 million," it said.
The firm also said the momentum of foreign net outflow accelerated on Thursday to RM334.6 million, after overnight Wall Street declines and generally headed south as investors weighed economies wracked by the tenacious Covid-19 pandemic and cautious commentary Wednesday by US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell.
Meanwhile, the firm said Friday witnessed a slowdown in foreign net selling to RM109.0 million amid the rise in China's industrial output for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak.
"Industrial output rose 3.9 per cent from a year earlier, reversing a drop of 1.1 per cent in March," it said.
In terms of participation, MIDF Research said all investor groups saw a weekly increase in their average daily traded value (ADTV).
"Foreign investors recorded the smallest weekly gain in ADTV of 44.1 per cent to return above the healthy RM1 billion mark," it added.