DESPITE being a shortened trading week due to the New Year public holiday on Jan 1, foreign investors kept up the pace to remain net buyers of domestic equities on Bursa Malaysia for the fourth consecutive week with an elevated net inflow of RM524.9 mil last week (Jan 2-5).
Except for Tuesday (Jan 2), every trading day of last week posted a net foreign inflow, according to MIDF Research.
“Tuesday (Jan 2) recorded net foreign selling of-RM23.3 mil with the highest outflows observed in Inari Amertron Bhd (-RM13.6 mil), My EG Services Bhd (-RM10.7 mil) and Public Bank Bhd (-RM7.9 mil),” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report.
The sectors that recorded the highest net foreign inflows during the week were utilities (RM208.9 mil), financial services (RM156.0 mil) and property (RM126.9 mil) while the sectors with the highest net foreign outflows were technology (-RM69.4 mil), consumer products & services (-RM64. mil) and telecommunication & media (-RM16.0 mil).
On the contrary, local institutions continued as net sellers for the third consecutive week with a total outflow of -RM141.6 mil. The financial services sector witnessed the highest net outflows from this investor group with an amount of -RM139.7 mil.
Likewise, local retailers also shifted to net sellers of domestic equities totalling -RM383.3 mil. This marks a reversal from the previous week’s figure of RM24.3 mil in terms of net buying.
In terms of participation, there were substantial increases in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among local retailers (+44.8%), local institutions (+22.6%) and foreign investors (+50.8%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research, Indonesia posted the fourth consecutive week of winning streak with a net inflow of US$185.1 mil followed by the Philippines whose equities remained attractive to foreign investors for the second week in a row at US$24.7 mil.
However, Thailand experienced the highest net foreign outflow which amounted to -US$59.7 mil, marking a reversal from the previous week’s inflow of US$92.9 mil followed by Vietnam who also encountered a net foreign outflow of -US$41.1 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were YTL Power Bhd (RM167.5 mil), Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) (RM60.6 mil) and Gamuda Bhd (RM55.0 mil). – Jan 8, 2023
