KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23): Foreign selling of Malaysian equities swelled to RM613 million last week, from an inflow of RM10.2 million in the week prior, according to MIDF Research.

In its weekly fund flow report on Monday, the research house said the week saw foreign investors net selling every day, with most outflow seen on Monday at RM208.7 million.

It said they have been selling for six consecutive days.

“There were only three sectors that saw net buying by foreign investors, which were Utilities (RM28.5 million), Property (RM20.8 million) and REITs (RM5.4 million).

“Sectors with the highest amount of net outflows were Financial Services (RM337.1 million), Consumer Products & Services (RM100.6 million) and Telecommunications & Media (RM51.4 million),” it said.

MIDF said year-to-date, foreign investors have net sold RM3.73 billion.

“Local institutions maintained their net buying stance for the third straight week at RM618.3 million.

“They net bought every day, with the strongest net buying activity on Monday at RM221.7 million,” it said.

MIDF said local retailers continued being net sellers on Bursa Malaysia, though at a much-moderated amount of RM5.3 million as compared to RM147.1 million the week before.

“Year-to-date, they have net sold RM660.6 million.

“In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among foreign investors by +31.6% while retail and institutional investors saw declines of 2.2% and 6.7% respectively,” it said.

Commenting on the international scenario, MIDF said global markets went on a turbulent ride as Treasury bond yields continued rising to their highest levels in 16 years.

It said the 10-year Treasury yields rose to 4.91% while 30-year yields rose to 5.01%.

“That, on top of geopolitical tension in the Middle East, mixed corporate results on Wall Street and the Federal Reserve leaving the door open for a new interest rate hike did not go down well on investors who made their pessimism felt in the market.

“All 20 indices that we track declined for the week, which saw declines in FBM KLCI (0.21%), Jakarta Composite Index (1.12%) and India’s Sensex (1.34%).

“Among the worst weekly decliners were the CSI 300 (4.17%), Ho Chi Minh VSE (4.04%) and the Hang Seng Index (3.60%),” it said.