FOREIGN investors returned to Bursa Malaysia last week (Oct 30-Nov 3) by net buying RM163.7 mil worth of on equities after being net sellers for the previous two weeks.
They mopped up net purchases of RM58.3 mil on Tuesday (Oct 31), RM83.3 mil on Thursday (Nov 2) and RM210.5 mil on Friday (Nov 3) but net sold -RM79.2 mil on Monday (Oct 30) and -RM109.2 mil on Wednesday (Nov 1).
“Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept its overnight policy rate (OPR) unchanged a 3% in its final monetary policy meeting this year in line with ours and market expectations,” noted MIDF Research in its weekly fund flow report.
The top three sectors with net foreign inflows for the week were utilities (RM56.7 mil), construction (RM54.7 mil) and property (RM48.5 mil) while the top three sectors that recorded net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM60.9 mil), consumer products & services (-RM42.9 mil) and energy (-RM10.8 mil).
On the contrary, local institutions net sold -RM93.4 mil last week, ending four weeks of net buying spree.
They net sold -RM54.0 mil on Tuesday (Oct 31), -RM41.0 mil on Thursday (Nov 2) and -RM137.6 mil on Friday (Nov 3) while net bought RM55.6 mil on Monday (Oct 30) and RM83.6 mil on Wednesday (Nov 1).
Local retailers, too, continued to net sell last week at -RM70.3 mil, bringing their net selling streak to four weeks. They net sold -RM4.3 mil on Tuesday (Oct 31), -RM42.3 mil on Thursday (Nov 2) and -RM72.9 mil on Friday (Nov 3) while net bought RM23.6 mil on Monday (Oct 30) and RM25.6m on Wednesday (Nov 1).
In terms of participation, there were declines in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among foreign investors by -10.4% and among local retailers by -2.6% last week while local institutions recorded an increase of +2.9%.
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research, only Malaysia and Vietnam posted net inflows of US$34.9 mil and US$8.0 mil respectively last week while Indonesia recorded its third consecutive week of net foreign fund outflows at -US$158.6 mil followed by Thailand (-US$88.1 mil) and the Philippines (-US$16.4 mil).
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Gamuda Bhd (RM43.8 mil), MISC Bhd (RM37.2 mil) and YTL Corp Bhd (RM37.1 mil). – Nov 6, 2023
