FOREIGN investors channelled their funds back into Bursa Malaysia again after the heavy sell-off the previous week by having net bought RM299.6 mil of Malaysian equities.
Recall that the recent turbulence on Wall Street had sparked ripple effects in Malaysia with foreign funds having made net disposal of -RM768.4 mil from the local bourse during the week of Aug 5-9.
“They only net sold -RM74.3 mil on Monday (Aug 12) but were net buyers for the rest of the week,” observed MIDF Research in its weekly fund flow report. “The strongest day of net inflow was on Friday (Aug 16) at RM288.3 mil.”
The top three sectors that were net bought by foreign investors last week were financial services (RM620.6 mil), telecommunication & media (RM93.9 mil) and transportation & logistics (RM40.8m).
The top three sectors that were net sold by foreign investors were technology (-RM143.8 mil), property (-RM113.3 mil) and industrial products & services (-RM100.7 mil).
On the contrary, local institutional investors were embroiled in net selling which amounted to -RM328.9 mil during week. They only net bought on Monday (Aug 12) at RM55.7 mil but turned net sellers for the rest of the week.
However, local retailers net bought RM29.3 mil worth of equities last week.
The average daily trading volume (ADTV) showed declines across all investor classes. Local retailers recorded the highest decline at -45.0% while local institutions and foreign investors recorded declines of -39.9% and -43.5% respectively.
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research, optimism among foreign investors in Indonesia remains as their net buying activities extended into the eighth consecutive week at US$187.3 mil last week.
Both Vietnam and the Philippines received a net foreign inflow of US$42.9 mil and US$25.3 mil respectively last week after two consecutive weeks of net selling while Thailand saw its second consecutive week of net foreign inflows at US$12.4 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (RM182.5 mil), Malayan Banking Bhd (RM181.7 mil) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (RM172.9 mil) – Aug 19, 2024
