FOREIGN investors continued their net buying streak on Bursa Malaysia for the fourth consecutive week last week although at a more moderate rate of RM130.5 mil.
It was a mixed trading week with inflows recorded on Monday (July 31) at RM280.9 mil and Friday (Aug 4) at RM42.3 mil while the rest of the week saw outflows.
“From Tuesday (Aug 1) to Thursday (Aug 3), foreign investors have net sold a total of -RM192.7 mil, primarily disposing of stocks like Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (-RM46.6 mil), CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (-RM33.5 mil) and PPB Group Bhd (-RM28.3 mil),” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report.
The top three sectors that saw net inflows were financial services (RM116.7 mil), utilities (RM96.6 mil) and plantation (RM81.1 mil).
Sectors with net outflows during the week ended Aug 4 were consumer products and services (-RM93.4 mil), industrial products and services (-RM65.0 mil), and telecommunications and media (-RM33.4 mil). Year-to-date (YTD), foreigners have net sold -RM2.93 bil.
In contrast, local institutions remained net sellers of domestic equities for the fourth week in a row after net selling -RM122.0 mil last week.
The majority of the outflows took place on Monday (July 31) at -RM255.4 mil with local institutions mainly net selling Maybank (-RM50.6 mil), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (-RM43.4 mil) and Public Bank Bhd (-RM24.6 mil). YTD, local institutions have been net buyers with inflows amounting to RM3.0 bil.
Like the local institutions, local retailers also net sold for the fourth consecutive week at a lower rate of -RM8.5 mil. YTD, local retailers have net sold -RM76.4 mil.
In terms of participation, there was a decline in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across the board – retail investors (-16.8%), local institutions (-20.8%) and foreign investors (-6.5%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, the Philippines posted the highest net foreign fund inflow with US$239.8 mil followed by Indonesia (US$145.9 mil), Malaysia (US$29.2 mil) and Vietnam (US$2.6 mil) while Thailand encountered a further net outflow of -US$225.4 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Maybank (RM123.5 mil), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (RM67.9 mil) and Public Bank Bhd (RM41.2 mil) – Aug 7, 2023
