LAST week was a rather mixed trading period with negative bias prevailing among foreign investors on Bursa Malaysia as they net sold for four out the five trading days.
However, the net buying of RM63.0 mil on Thursday (April 6) cushioned net selling for the rest of the week, according to MIDF Research.
“It was the second consecutive week of net foreign inflows last week which saw net buying escalated to RM18.8 mil from RM11.5 mil the week prior,” observed the research house in its weekly fund flow report.
Foreign investors net sold -RM150,000 on Monday (April 3), -RM14.9 mil on Tuesday (April 4), -RM24.4 mil on Wednesday (April 5) and -RM4.7 mil on Friday (April 7).
“Thursday (April 7) was the only day with net inflows which saw the bulk of foreign funds flowing into blue chips namely Petronas Gas Bhd, QL Resources Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.” added MIDF Research.
Meanwhile, sentiments remain healthy, lifted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s recent visit to China which secured the commitment of RM170.07 bil of Chinese investments into several industries in Malaysia in addition to a RM2.44 bi of potential exports to China.
The top three sectors that saw net foreign inflows last week were consumer products & services (RM39.1 mil), utilities (RM24.2 mil) and energy (RM18.2 mil) while the top three sectors that saw net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM39.1 mil), healthcare (-RM30.2 mil) and technology (-RM16.9 mil).
Year-to-date (YTD), foreigners have net sold Malaysian equities for nine out of 14 weeks, totalling -RM1.86 bil.
Meanwhile, institutional investors also returned as net buyers with a total of RM50.1 mil after briefly turning net sellers at -RM3.9 mil the week before.
They net sold -RM71.0 mil on Thursday (April 6) but were net buyers for the rest of the week. YTD, institutional investors have been net buyers for 10 out of 14 weeks with a total of RM1.82 bil.
Elsewhere, local retailers net sold for the second consecutive week at -RM69.0 mil. They net bought RM8.0 mil on Thursday (April 6) but were net sellers for the rest of the week. They have net bought for seven out of 14 weeks this year with a total of RM22.9 mil.
In terms of participation, there was a decline in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among local retailers by -5.8%, local institutions (-3.2%) and foreign investors (-18.8%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, Indonesia again posted the highest net foreign fund inflow with US$183.3 mil followed by Thailand (US$24 mil) and Malaysia (US$4.3 mil) while Vietnam recorded the highest net outflow at -US$31.4 mil followed by the Philippines (-US$4.8 mil).
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Petronas Gas (RM33.7 mil), QL Resources (RM28.4 mil) and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (RM22.3 mil). – April 10, 2023
