In the four days, they sold RM186.2 million worth of equities, up from RM42.49 million in the week before.

Bursa Malaysia was closed last Friday to mark Malaysia Day.

MIDF Research attributed the net selling to higher-than-expected inflation data in the US, prompting investors to brace for another aggressive rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Foreign investors picked up RM47.5 million worth of equities last Monday, but turned net seller for the rest of the week.

The highest outflow was recorded on Thursday when they sold RM153.8 million worth of equities, while Tuesday and Wednesday saw outflows of RM22.4 million and RM57.5 million, respectively, the research house said.

It noted that local institutions also began selling last week, albeit at a much lower rate, unloading RM4.7 million worth of equities, after briefly turning into net buyers in the previous week.

“They were net sellers from Monday through Wednesday, with net outflows of RM35.2 million on Monday, RM40.8 million on Tuesday and RM12.6 million on Wednesday,” MIDF said.

However, they picked up RM84 million worth of equities on Thursday before the market took a break on Friday.

Meanwhile, local retailers turned into net buyers again, picking up RM190.8 million of equities after selling RM48.8 million of equities in the previous week.

Although the began the week by unloading RM12.3 million worth of equities, they turned net buyers by picking up shares worth RM63.2 million on Tuesday, RM70.1 million on Wednesday and RM69.9 million on Thursday, MIDF said.

Year-to-date, international investors have been net buyers for 24 out of the 37 weeks of 2022, with a total net inflow of RM7.93 billion, while local institutions were net sellers for 29 out of 37 weeks, with a total net outflow of RM9.91 billion.

“Local retailers have been net buyers for 24 out of 37 weeks of 2022. Year-to-date, they have net bought RM1.98 billion,” it added.