KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign net outflow of stocks on Bursa Malaysia lessened to RM226.1 million last week from RM910.2 million in the preceding week.
This was the 24th consecutive week of foreign net selling, MIDF Research said.
So far in 2020, foreign investors had sold RM19.0 billion net on Bursa.
"In comparison with the other six Asian markets we track, Malaysia still has the fourth smallest foreign net outflow on a year-to-date basis," MIDF Research said in its weekly fund flow report.
As the stock market reopened on Monday last week, foreign investors acquired RM63.5 million net of local equities which was also the only day that Bursa experienced a foreign net inflow.
On Tuesday, foreign investors reverted to being net sellers with an outflow of RM49.3 million despite Malaysia posting a record high trade surplus of RM20.9 billion in June as exports rebounded to positive territory for the first time since the Movement Control Order.
The positive sentiments was short-lived as new wave of Covid-19 and rising protectionism might hinder countries' efforts to restart their respective economies, the firm said.
Foreign net outflow increased on Wednesday and Thursday last week at a tune of RM93.6 million and RM146.6 million respectively.
This coincided with the decline in Malaysia's Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production by 4.0 Per cent year-on-year in June to 100.3 and an extension of a three-month loan moratorium for targeted groups on Wednesday last week as economic recovery was expected to be subdued amidst surging Covid-19 cases.
"Foreign investors remained in risk-off mode as domestic political landscape continued to be uncertain and record high contraction in the US and Eurozone economies."
In terms of participation, retail investors recorded a weekly increase of 23.8 per cent in average daily traded value (ADTV) to RM5.6 billion.
Foreign investors experienced the least weekly increase in ADTV by 7.7 per cent to reach RM1.5 billion which was above the healthy level of RM1.0 billion.