KUALA LUMPUR: Offshore funds sold down Malaysian equities for the second straight week with a total net outflow of RM499.25mil, contributing to the slump in the local market over the past week.

       This brought foreign investors' net sales of local equities to RM4.31bil for the year thus far.

       "Foreign investors were net sellers every day last week. Largest foreign outflow was recorded on Wednesday with the smallest outflow on Friday to the tune of -RM206.0m and -RM28.66m respectively," said MIDF Research in its weekly fund flow report.

       Offshore investors also stepped up their participation in Bursa Malaysia with a weekly movement of 5.2%.

       This compares to retailers, whose participation shrank 2.53%, and local institutions, which recorded a 2.83% higher weekly movement.

       Retailers were net buyers every day of the week, bringing net purchases of Bursa Malaysia equities to RM309.56mil.

       Local institutions were also net buyers for the week with RM189.69mil net inflow.

       Since the start of 2021, retailers have recorded a net purchase of RM8.21bil in Bursa Malaysia equities while local institutions have been net sellers of RM3.89bil.

       Counters with the highest net money inflow for the week include Tenaga Nasional, Petronas Chemicals and Genting Plantations.

       Stocks with leading money outflows were Genting, MISC and CIMB.