In its fund flow report, MIDF Research said trading for the week ended Aug 4 was mixed, with inflows recorded on Monday at RM280.9 million and Friday at RM42.3 million, while the rest of the week saw outflows.

“From Tuesday to Thursday, foreign investors net sold RM192.7 million worth of equities, primarily disposing of stocks like Petronas Chemicals (-RM46.6 million), CIMB (-RM33.5 million) and PPB (-RM28.3 million).

“The top three sectors that saw net inflows were financial services (RM116.7 million), utilities (RM96.6 million) and plantation (RM81.1 million),” it said.

Meanwhile, the research house said that sectors with net outflows for the week were consumer products and services (-RM93.4 million), industrial products and services (-RM65 million) and telecommunications and media (-RM33.4 million).

“Year-to-date (YTD), foreigners have net sold RM2.93 billion,” it said.

Meanwhile, local institutions remained net sellers of domestic equities for the fourth week in a row after net selling RM122 million last week.

“The highest of the outflows took place on Monday at RM255.4 million, whereby local institutions were mainly net selling Maybank (-RM50.6 million), Tenaga Nasional (-RM43.4 million) and Public Bank (-RM24.6 million).

“YTD, local institutions have been net buyers with inflows amounting to RM3 billion,” it said.

Similarly, local retailers also net sold for the fourth consecutive week, although at a lower rate of RM8.5 million. YTD, local retailers have net sold RM76.4 million.

In terms of participation, the average daily trading volume (ADTV) had declined across the board – retail investors (-16.8%), local institutions (-20.8%) and foreign investors (-6.5%), said MIDF Research.