Chinese stocks saw another month of foreign capital exodus as overseas funds offloaded 44.8 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) worth of mainland shares in October. The month saw only three days of inflows even as authorities ramped up support, with the sovereign fund buying banking stocks and exchange-traded funds.

The three-month selling streak, a record, amounts to 172 billion yuan and threatens to turn this year’s flow into negative territory. If that happens, it would be the first time China saw an annual outflow since the second mainland-Hong Kong trading link opened in late 2016.

Emerging markets have seen foreign fund outflows in October amidst rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and bond yields in the US. Excluding China, foreign investors dumped shares worth nearly $11 billion in October, taking the three-month sell-off to well over $27 billion.

This is the longest bout of selling from foreign investors since last June when the Fed raising interest rates and lockdowns in major Chinese cities spooked investors.

After turning net sellers for the first time in six months in September, Foreign Portfolio Investors continued to remain net sellers in Indian equities during the month of October as well.

FPIs pulled out over $2.5 billion from Indian equities in October, taking the outflows over a two-month period to over $5 billion. Foreign funds have also pulled out a record $4 billion from Taiwan in October.

“We are still keeping a cautious view, because we think that earnings estimates for 2024 are too high” in Asia, said Luca Castoldi, a hedge fund manager at Reyl Group. US growth will not be strong in 2024 and the effect of higher rates is being felt across sectors, he added.

China’s factory activity fell back into contraction in October, data released Tuesday showed. Investors are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s policy decision and the US Treasury Department’s new borrowing plan later this week.

(With Inputs From Agencies.)