NET selling by foreign investors on Bursa Malaysia stretches into its seventh consecutive week with net foreign outflows amounting to -RM506.5 mil, a level last seen in the middle of March 2023.
Foreign funds have been sellers of 16 out of 22 weeks this year with a total net foreign outflow of -RM2.96 bil, according to MIDF Research.
“Every trading day last week was a net selling day by the foreigners with Wednesday (May 31) seeing the heaviest net selling for the week at -RM199.3 mil,” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report.
“The top three counters that foreigners have net sold on this day were RHB Bank Bhd (-RM45.8 mil), Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd (-RM31.9 mil) and Public Bank Bhd (-RM30.7 mil).”
More broadly, the top three sectors that saw net foreign inflows were technology (RM47.3 mil), telecommunication & media (RM27.4 mil) and transportation & logistics (RM24.7 mil) while the top three sectors that saw net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM181.6 mil), consumer products & services (-RM161.5 mil) and industrial products & services (-RM137.4 mil).
On the contrary, local institutional investors turned net buyers last week at RM372.9 mil. Year-to-date (YTD), they have been net buyers of domestic equities for 16 out of 22 weeks with a total net inflow of RM2.79 bil.
Elsewhere, local retailers also remained net buyers for the second consecutive week after mopping up RM133.6 mil last week.
Every trading day was a net buying day except on Friday (June 1) which posted a net selling of -RM9.6 mil. YTD, local retailers have been net buyers for 11 out of 22 weeks with net buying to the tune of RM173.5 mil.
In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across the board – retailers (+13.6%), local institutions (+4.0%) and foreigners (+139.4%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, only Indonesia posted a net inflow of foreign funds with US$92.7 mil while Thailand continued to top the highest net outflow list with -US$248.5 mil followed by Malaysia (US$110.0 mil), the Philippines (US$77.2 mil) and Vietnam (US$50.5 mil).
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Malayan Banking Bhd (RM91.3 mil), YTL Corp Bhd (RM68.2 mil) and MyEG Services Bhd (RM43.2 mil). – June 6, 2023
