FOREIGN investors turned net sellers last week (Oct 6-10 trading period) to reverse a single-week of inflow with a withdrawal of -RM1.44 bil (prior week: +RM577.1 mil) – their largest weekly exit since end-August 2025.
They were net sellers on every trading session with Friday (Oct 10) – the day of Budget 2026 unveiling – posting the highest outflow at -RM327.0 mil, according to MBSB Research (formerly MIDF Research).
“This was followed by Wednesday (Oct 8) (-RM307.8 mil), Monday (Oct 6) (-RM288.7 mil) and Tuesday (Oct 7) (-RM281.7 mil),” observed the research house in its weekly fund flow report.
“The smallest outflow occurred on Thursday (Oct 9) with net withdrawals amounting to –RM237.9 mil.”
The only sector that recorded net foreign inflows last week was technology (RM85.7 mil) while the top three sectors with net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM491.7 mil), healthcare (-RM171.2 mil) and property (-RM145.5 mil).
On the contrary, local institutions reverted to net buying activity to end their single week of outflow with purchases of RM1.49 bil – the highest weekly net inflow registered since April 2025.
However, local retailers extended their net selling streak to a fifth week in a row with a more modest outflow of -RM50.6 mil.
The average daily trading volume (ADTV) experienced a broad-based decline last week. Local retailers and foreign investors recorded modest decreases of -3.9% and -1.6% respectively while local institutions saw an increase of +6.3%.
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MBSB Research, Indonesia turned net buyers last week to end a single-week of net selling activity with foreign purchases of US$193.6 mil.
Elsewhere, Vietnam recorded the highest foreign outflow among the markets monitored with 12 successive weeks of net selling amounting to -US$174.0 mil.
Thailand extended its net selling streak to a fifth week with an outflow of -US$77.1 mil while the Philippines extended its net foreign withdrawals to a second week with -US$15.7 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Westports Holdings Bhd (RM76.2 mil), Petronas Gas Bhd (RM56.0 mil) and Sime Darby Bhd (RM43.9 mil). – Oct 13, 2025
