NET selling by foreign investors on Bursa Malaysia last week (May 22-26) has stretched into the fifth week in a row with outflows amounting to -RM58.7 mil although this was about 3.6 times lower than the -RM211.0 mil recorded in the prior week.
Foreign funds net bought RM10.0 mil on Monday (May 22) and RM42.6 mil on Friday (May 26) but were net sellers from Tuesday (May 23) to Thursday (May 25), according to MIDF Research.
“Year-to-date (YTD), foreign investors have been net sellers for 15 out of 21 weeks this year with a total net foreign outflow of -RM2.45 bil,” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report.
The top three sectors that saw net foreign inflows were transportation & logistics (RM103.8 mil), technology (RM58.6 mil) and telecommunication & media (RM50.4 mil) while the top three sectors that saw net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM122.8 mil), consumer products & services (-RM68.3 mil) and REITs (-RM21.9 mil).
Local institutional investors also turned net sellers last week at -RM32.4 mil after four weeks of net buying. Except for Tuesday (May 23) when they net bought RM29.1 mil, they were indulged in net selling for the rest of the week. YTD, foreign funds have however been net buyers for 15 out of 21 weeks with a total net buy of RM2.41 bil.
On the contrary, local retailers turned net buyers at RM91.1 mil last week after three weeks of net selling. Every trading day was a net buying day except on Friday (May 26) when they net sold -RM4.5 mil. YTD, local retailers have been net buyers for 10 out of 21 weeks with total net buying to the tune of RM39.9 mil.
In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across the board with retailers (+1.4%), local institutions (+12.6%) and foreigners (+18.2%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, Indonesia continued to post the highest net foreign fund inflow with US$146.0 mil followed by the Philippines (US$42.8 mil) while Thailand continued to top the highest net outflow list with-US$351.8 mil followed by Vietnam (US$101.0 mil) and Malaysia (US$12.8 mil).
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (RM74.3 mil), CelcomDigi Bhd (RM51.5 mil) and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (RM39.2 mil). – May 29, 2023
