KUALA LUMPUR: The foreign inflow on Bursa Malaysia picked up to RM955.85mil over the past week, the highest in the year so far, as investors grew optimistic over the country's export data.

       According to MIDF Research data, this was the second consecutive week of net buying on the local bourse, and the fifth week in seven.

       However, the same could not be said of retailers and local institutions, which recorded net outflows of RM42.02mil and RM913.85mil over the week ended Feb 18 respectively.

       "On a year-to-date basis, we have observed RM2.01b in net inflows from foreign investors.

       "Meanwhile, retailers and local institutions were net sellers, to the tune of -RM0.04b and -RM1.97b, respectively," said MIDF in a report.

       Trading activity on Bursa Malaysia picked up across all three investor categories over the week, with foreign investor participation rising 4.31% and retailers and local institution participation growing 17.14% and 33.07%.

       The three sectors that saw the most net inflows were financial services with RM311.6mil, industrial products and services with RM270.3mil and plantation with RM242.8mil.

       The healthcare sector a net outflow of RM18.9mil while technology recorded net selling of RM11.4mil and property, RM6.4mil.