FOREIGN investors maintained their selling momentum on Bursa Malaysia for the third consecutive week whereby they net sold -RM415.1 mil worth of equities, moderating from -RM1.51 bil the week prior.
They only net bought RM46.5 mil on Tuesday (March12) but were net sellers for the rest of the week, according to MIDF Research.
“The sectors with the highest net foreign inflows were property (RM81.1 mil), construction (RM37.1 mil) and transportation & logistics (RM17.7 mil),” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report.
“Meanwhile, the sectors that recorded the highest net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM186.0 mil), plantation (-RM115.7 mil) and energy (-RM59.6 mil).”
On the contrary, local institutions continued their trend of net buying for the third consecutive week as they net bought RM575.8 mil worth of equities from the local bourse.
As opposed to the foreign investors, they were net sellers at -RM24.0 mil on Tuesday (March 12) but were net buyers for the entire week.
Elsewhere, local retailers shifted their stance to net selling at -RM160.7 mil after briefly embarked on net buying for two weeks.
They net sold throughout last week and have been net sellers for seven consecutive trading days.
In terms of participation, the average daily trading volume (ADTV) rose across all investor classes. Local retailers saw an increase of +13.9% while local institutions and foreign investors saw increases of +11.2% and +30.1% respectively.
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research, Indonesia was the only other country that recorded a net foreign inflow last week at US$475.5 mil.
Vietnam topped the list of highest net outflow as foreign investors net sold stocks valued at -US$105.6 mil for the second consecutive week.
After seven consecutive weeks of net foreign fund inflows, the Philippines recorded a net outflow of -US$55.5 mil last week while the net selling by foreign investors entered its third week in Thailand but the amount has diminished to -US$500,000 from -US$72.4 mil in the previous week.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Malayan Banking Bhd (RM85.3 mil), Sime Darby Bhd (RM54.1 mil) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (RM31.3 mil). – March 18, 2024
