MIDF Research said there was an outflow every trading day last week except on Tuesday when Bursa Malaysia saw the entry of RM9 million worth of funds.

With last week’s outflow, foreign investors have sold RM685.7 million more than they have invested in the local exchange since the start of the year.

The foreign funds offloaded RM178.6 million of their holdings on Monday, making it the day with the highest outflow.

“Wednesday and Thursday were the days with the second and third highest outflows, with RM84.2 million and RM73.8 million respectively,” MIDF Research said in its weekly fund flow report.

The three sectors that saw the most net foreign inflows were energy with RM33.5 million, construction (RM24.8 million) and real estate investment trusts or REITS (RM2.5 million).

Sectors that recorded the highest net foreign outflows were financials (RM121 million), industrials (RM80 million) and healthcare (RM74.3 million).

Local institutions were net buyers of Malaysian equities, with total net inflows worth RM296 million, with only Tuesday recording a net outflow of RM78.3 million.

“The heaviest net inflows for local institutions were seen on Friday at RM168.9 million followed by Monday at RM132.1 million. Year-to-date, local institutions have net bought RM736.8 million,” it said.

Local retailers were net buyers last week to the tune of RM42.7 million.

Year-to-date, MIDF Research said, local retailers were net sellers of Malaysian equities to the sum of RM51.1 million.

In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among local institutions (up 0.3%) and foreign investors (up 42%), in contrast to local retailers which saw a decline of 6.3%.