FOREIGN investors continued to mop up stocks on Bursa Malaysia, culminating in a third successive week of net inflow at RM1.5 bil for the week of Aug 26-30 after having made net purchases amounting to RM1.4 bil the week prior.
They net bought every day last week – the highest net weekly net buying amount seen this year and the highest since week ended March 18, 2016, according to MIDF Research.
“The top three sectors that were net bought by foreign investors were financial services (RM1.3 bil), utilities (RM259.7 mil) and construction (RM88.7 mil),” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report.
“The top three sectors which posted net outflow were technology (-RM60.4 mil), transportation & logistics (-RM57.2 mil) and industrial products & services (-RM41.0 mil).”
On the contrary, local institutions net sold -RM1.26 bil last week, the highest since the week ended March 4, 2022. They net bought RM13.9 mil on Monday (Aug 26) but net sold from Tuesday (Aug 27) to Friday (Aug 30).
Likewise, local retailers net sold for the second consecutive week at -RM245.4 mil. They only net bought RM26.3 mil on Thursday (Aug 29) but were net sellers for the rest of the week.
The average daily trading volume (ADTV) showed an increase of +49.9% among foreign investors while local institutions and local retailers saw declines of -0.4% and -2.8% respectively.
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research, foreign investors continued to channel their funds into Indonesia for the 10th consecutive week at US$973.5 mil.
This was followed by the Philippines which recorded its third straight week of net foreign fund inflows at US$38.5 mil last week while Thailand posted a net inflow of US$34.8 mil after foreign investors having briefly net sold the week before.
However, Vietnam saw its second consecutive week of net foreign outflows at -US$32.0 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Public Bank Bhd (RM458.3 mil), Malayan Banking Bhd (RM241.1 mil) and RHB Bank Bhd (RM204.0 mil). – Sept 2, 2024
