KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Foreign investors continued to be net buyers on Bursa Malaysia for the fifth consecutive week last week with net inflow amounting to RM649 million.

However, this was sharply lower compared to the previous week’s foreign net inflow of RM1.08 billion.

MIDF Research said foreign investors and local retailers were the net buyers for the week ended March 11, with total net inflows of RM896.5 million.

The investment bank, in its equity strategy report today, said on Monday last week, local retailers and foreign investors bought RM57.8 million and RM142.6 million net of local equities, respectively.

In contrast, local institutions kicked off the week as net sellers at -RM200.4 million.

‘‘Foreigners continued to be net buyers every day of the week since Feb 7 or one month ago, i.e. for 25 consecutive days, without interruption.

‘‘The largest foreign inflow recorded last week was on Thursday at RM172.6 million and the smallest inflow on Tuesday at only RM76.36 million,’’ it noted.

MIDF Research said on the other hand, local institutions were net sellers since Feb 4.

The largest net outflow last week was on Wednesday and the smallest on Friday amounting to -RM223.7 million and -RM84.49 million, respectively.

As for retail investors, they have been net buyers every day of the week, except for Friday where they turned net sellers to the tune of RM32.5 million.

The largest net buying was on Tuesday at RM121.7 million, while the smallest on Thursday at RM17.21 million,’’ it said.

‘‘Overall, for the tenth week of 2022, foreign investors finished strong as net buyers of RM649.1 million, followed by retailers at RM247.4 million. Local institutions were the net sellers at -RM896.5 million.

‘‘On a year-to-date basis, we observed RM4.41 billion in net inflows from foreign investors and RM0.63 billion from retailers. Meanwhile, local institutions were net sellers of -RM5.04 billion,’’ it said.

Meanwhile, Kenanga Research said the ringgit depreciated near the 4.20 threshold against the US dollar last week due to rising safe-haven demand amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

On top of rising geopolitical uncertainty, the ringgit failed to sustain its upward momentum due to Malaysia’s narrowing yield premium over US Treasuries and high US inflation reading.

Despite elevated crude oil prices, there is also a lack of buying interest for the ringgit amid a risk-off market sentiment.

‘‘The US dollar may continue to trend higher this week amid an expected sell-off in US equity markets due to geopolitical worries.

‘‘The risk-averse USD buying coupled with the Federal Reserve’s potential 25 basis points rate hike may push the USD index (DXY) above the 100.0 level, possibly dragging the ringgit to around the 4.20 to 4.21 zone.

‘‘However, a continuous double-digit growth in Malaysia’s exports may limit the ringgit depreciation,’’ it said. — Bernama