But at RM28 million, the net outflow was significantly lower than in the previous week when investors took RM120.55 million out of the country.
The Aidiladha replacement holiday last Monday also made it a shorter trading week.
In its weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research said foreigners were net buyers last Tuesday and Thursday, picking up RM21.9 million and RM49.6 million worth of stocks those two days respectively.
That helped to cushion the outflow of RM81.9 million on Wednesday and RM17.6 million on Friday.
“Local institutions turned net sellers again (last week), dumping RM25.1 million worth of stocks after a net buying spree for a brief two-week period,” MIDF Research said.
“They were net sellers of RM60.4 million on Tuesday and RM48.5 million on Thursday but net buyers of RM47.9 million and RM36 million on Wednesday and Friday respectively,” it added.
It said local retailers also maintained their buying spree for the sixth week, raking in RM53.1 million worth of stocks. They bought RM72.5 million on Tuesday and Wednesday before dumping RM19.5 million net over the next two days.
On a sectoral basis, the research house said the top three sectors which saw net outflows by foreign investors were industrial products and services (RM51.7 million), technology (RM40.4 million) and plantation (RM22.3 million).
“The top three sectors with net inflows were healthcare, financial services and consumer products and services with RM71.7 million, RM35.5 million and RM16.6 million respectively,” it added.
Globally, MIDF Research said global markets were hit by gloomy sentiments last week, reversing the rally seen in the previous week as inflation jitters returned to spook investors with a 41-year high consumer price index (CPI) in the US, on top of disappointing second-quarter US corporate earnings thus far.
MIDF Research also reported that out of the 16 major indices that it tracked, 13 were in the red, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index at the very bottom after tanking 6.57%.
China’s CSI 300 lost 4.07% while the Philippines Stock Exchange Index retreated 2.62%.
“The only three advancers for the week were Japan’s Nikkei 225, Taiwan’s TAIEX and France’s CAC40, which were up 1.02%, 0.60% and 0.05% respectively,” it said.