FOREIGN investors continued to snap up Malaysian stocks – and even at a faster pace – for the third week running last week.
Based on data from Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors bought a net RM116.45 mil of local equities during the week ended Jan 28 compared with RM11.35 mil net in the preceding week.
As market re-opened on Monday (Jan 24) last week, foreign investors and retailers bought RM60.14 mil and RM5.89 mil net of local equities respectively while local institutions started the week as net sellers to the tune of -RM66.03 mil.
The largest net buying by the foreign investors was recorded on Tuesday (Jan 25) at RM89.04 mil.
The momentum of foreign net inflow slowed down on Wednesday (Jan 26) to RM21.52 mil following the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rate.
The only net outflow from foreign funds came on Friday (Jan 28) amounting to -RM99.07 mil despite upbeat Malaysian economic data which sustained double-digit exports growth in December 2021.
Thus far, January has seen a foreign net inflow of RM460 mil.
Meanwhile, retailers were net sellers for majority sessions of the week except on Monday (Jan 24) and Thursday (Jan 27). The largest net selling by retailers was recorded on Tuesday (Jan 25) at -RM26.37 mil.
For the week, retailers net sold -RM30.69 mil worth of equities on Bursa Malaysia. Joining them as net sellers for the week were local institutions which recorded a cumulative weekly net selling of -RM85.74 mil.
Local institutions were net sellers for all sessions during the week except on Friday (Jan 28) when they net bought RM110.44 mil. Their largest net selling was on Monday (Jan 24) to the tune of -RM66.03 mil.
In terms of participation, retail investors, local institutions and the foreign investors recorded a weekly movement of -11.07%, -20.59% and -16.20% respectively in terms of average daily trade value (ADTV).
In comparison with another three Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, Thailand posted the most foreign fund inflow at US$133.06 mil with Malaysia coming in second at US$27.78 mil followed by Indonesia (US$13.60 mil) while the Philippines recorded a net outflow of –US$11.58 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow last week were Heineken Malaysia Bhd (RM3.39 mil), Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (RM1.07 mil) and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd (RM790,000). – Jan 31, 2022
