KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Foreign funds continued to remain as net sellers of local equities for the fourth consecutive week, albeit at a slower pace last week.

MIDF Research said foreign investors sold RM348.36 million net of local equities last week, compared to RM383.76 million net the preceding week.

Foreign investors disposed of RM53.21 million worth of equities last week, with the largest foreign outflow recorded on Tuesday at RM153.28 million.

In contrast, local institutions and retailers were net buyers for the entire week, with the largest net buying by retailers — totalling RM44.19 million — seen on Monday.

Retailers bought RM126.45 million worth of equities in Bursa Malaysia, while local institutions recorded cumulative weekly net buying to the tune of RM221.92 million, it said.

The largest net buying by local institutions was seen on Tuesday, to the tune of RM115.82 million.

"Since the beginning of 2021, cumulatively, retailers have been the only net buyers of our equity market, to the tune of RM12.44 billion.

"Local institutions and foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of RM9.31 billion and RM3.13 billion, respectively,” said MIDF Research.

In terms of participation, retail investors, local institutions and foreign investors recorded a weekly movement of -4.93 per cent, -0.59 per cent and 15.11 per cent, respectively, in average daily trade value (ADTV) during the week.

The FBM KLCI increased by 0.88 per cent to settle at 1,502.01 for the week on the back of surging buying interest in overweight counters like Tenaga Nasional Bhd.

The research house noted that the majority of equity markets worldwide were in mixed territory due to inflation concerns, uncertainty over the Omicron variant and hawkish pivots by the United States Federal Reserve, which dampened investor confidence.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was slightly weaker last week, depreciating by 0.2 per cent against the US dollar to close at RM4.220 on Friday as oil prices were lower due to uncertainties on the impact of the Omicron variant and tighter restrictions.

MIDF Research said the greenback had strengthened against major currencies, with the US dollar index (DXY) ending the week 0.5 per cent higher.

"Demand for US dollar even increased ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting (FOMC).

"Following the FOMC’s decision to accelerate tapering, the DXY index closed lower at 96.04 on Thursday. However, US dollar strengthened again on Friday following concerns over Omicron impact,” it noted. — Bernama