Foreign fund inflows continued for 7th consecutive week at RM190m

KUALA LUMPUR: In a shortened trading week due to the Merdeka public holiday, Bursa Malaysia continued to see net buying activities from foreigners, which had net bought RM190.9 million worth of equities last week, slightly lower than the RM244.6 million recorded in the prior week.

In a weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research said this was the seventh consecutive week of net inflows from foreigners for the week ended Sept 2.

“It was also the second longest streak of foreign net buying for this year. The longest streak was between the week ending Feb 11, 2022 to the week ending April 8, 2022 consisting of nine consecutive weeks,” it said.

According to the research firm, for last week, foreigners were net sellers only on Thursday at RM90.1 million but were net buyers for the rest of the week.

“The heaviest inflow of RM219.6 million was recorded on Tuesday, while Monday and Friday saw inflows of RM61 million and RM400,000 respectively. The market was closed on Wednesday in conjunction with Malaysia’s Independence Day.

“The top three sectors that saw the most net inflows by foreigners last week were financial services, consumer products and services and utilities at RM201.7 million, RM58.4 million and RM51.6 million respectively,” it said.

Meanwhile, MIDF Research said the highest net outflows were industrial products and services at RM102.8 million, technology at RM51.4 million and plantation at RM26.6 million.

Going into the seventh consecutive week, it said local institutions remained net sellers after they have net sold RM233.2 million last week.

“Local retailers were still on a net buying spree last week after they have bought RM42.6 million worth of equities. They were net buyers during every trading day except for Friday,” it said.

To date, MIDF Research said international investors have been net buyers for 24 out of the 35 weeks of 2022, with a total net inflow of RM8.16 billion.

“Local institutions were net sellers for 28 out of 35 weeks, with a total net outflow of RM10 billion. Local retailers have been net buyers for 23 out of 35 weeks of 2022. Year to date, they have net bought RM1.84 billion,” it said.

In terms of participation, it said there was a decrease in average daily trade value (ADTV) among retail and institutional investors by 4.5 and 1.2 per cent respectively, while foreign investors recorded growth of 60.3 per cent in ADTV. – Bernama