FOREIGN investors and local retailers emerged net buyers for the week ended March 4, which saw total net inflows surging to RM1.31 bil of which the net inflow portion by foreign investors alone amounted to RM1.08 bil.
After a quiet 2021, international funds have been net buyers on Bursa Malaysia for the fourth consecutive week and for seven out of the first nine weeks of 2022.
“We noted that last week, the net buying by foreign investors was the highest for the year, surpassing the previous high of RM955.9 mil in the week ended Feb 18,” observed MIDF Research in its weekly fund flow report.
As the market re-opened last Monday (Feb 28), local retailers and foreign investors bought RM35 mil and RM490.9 mil net of local equities respectively while local institutions kicked off the week as net sellers at -RM525.9 mil.
“Foreigners continued to be net buyers on every session of the week since a month ago on Feb 7, ie. for 20 consecutive days uninterrupted,” added MIDF Research.
Their largest inflow last week was recorded on Monday (Feb 28) at RM490.9 mil with the smallest inflow on Wednesday (March 2) at only RM79.85 mil.
The pace of net inflows from foreign investors remained robust on Tuesday (March 1), Thursday (March 3) and Friday (March 4) at RM230.6 mil, RM136.5 mil and RM143.6 mil respectively.
On the other hand, local institutions have been net sellers since Feb 4. Their largest net outflow last week was on Monday (Feb 28) while the smallest was on Wednesday (March 2) to the tune of -RM525.9 mil and -RM154 mil respectively.
As for retail investors, they have been net buyers every session of the week with the largest inflow occurring on Wednesday (March 2) at RM74.19 mil and the smallest at RM35 mil on Monday (Feb 28).
Overall, foreign investors finished strong as net buyers at RM1.08 bil for the ninth week of 2022 followed by retailers at RM230.4 mil while local institutions were the only strong net sellers at -RM1.31 bil.
The three sectors that saw the highest net inflow from foreign investors were industrial products and services (RM518.6 mil), financial services (RM289.7 mil) and plantation (RM229.8 mil).
In comparison with another three Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, Thailand again recorded the highest net inflow at US$307.2 mil followed by Indonesia (US$317.5 mil), Malaysia (US$257.9 mil) and the Philippines (US$2.9 mil).
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow last week were Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd (RM4.13 mil), Public Bank Bhd (RM3.9 mil) and United Plantations Bhd (RM1.54 mil). – March 7, 2022
