KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Foreign selling of Malaysian equities on Bursa Malaysia extended for the sixth consecutive week, but at a much moderated rate last week, with only RM28 million trickling out from RM120.55 million the prior week.

In its weekly fund flow report on Monday (July 18), the MIDF Research team said foreigners were net buyers last Tuesday and Thursday at RM21.9 million and RM49.6 million respectively, cushioning the outflows of RM81.9 million last Wednesday and RM17.6 million last Friday.

“Local institutions turned net sellers again at a rate of RM25.1 million after net buying for a brief two weeks.

“They were net sellers of RM60.4 million last Tuesday and RM48.5 million last Thursday, which was softened by net buying last Wednesday and Friday at RM47.9 million and RM36 million respectively,” it said.

MIDF said local retailers maintained their net buying spree for the sixth week coming, net buying RM53.1 million.

It said they bought RM72.5 million net last Tuesday and Wednesday before net selling RM19.5 million over the next two days.

“The top three sectors which saw net outflows by foreign investors were industrial products and services (RM51.7 million), technology (RM40.4 million), and plantation (RM22.3 million).

“Meanwhile, the top three sectors with net inflows were healthcare, financial services, and consumer products and services, with RM71.7 million, RM35.5 million and RM16.6 million respectively,” it said.

MIDF said that to date, international funds were net buyers for 17 out of 28 weeks of 2022, with a total net inflow of RM5.94 billion.

It said local institutions were net sellers for 21 out of 28 weeks, with a total net outflow of RM7.84 million.

It said local retailers were net buyers for 19 out of 28 weeks of 2022.

MIDF said year-to-date, they are net buyers at RM1.9 billion.

“In terms of participation, there was a decline in the average daily trade value (ADTV) among all investor classes.

“Retail investors saw a decline of 26.26%, while institutional and foreign investors saw decreases in ADTV by 25.51% and 25.94% respectively,” it said.

Commenting on the international situation, MIDF said global markets consumed gloomy sentiments last week, reversing the rally seen in the previous week as inflation jitters returned to spook investors.

It said the S&P 500 was down 0.93% for the week to 3,863.16 points, while the Dow inched lower by 0.16% to 31,286.02 points.

“The Nasdaq Composite took a bigger hit of 1.57% to 11,452.42 points.

“Out of 16 indices tracked, 13 were in the red. The Hang Seng Index tanked 6.57%, China’s CSI 300 lost 4.07%, and the Philippine Stock Exchange Index retreated 2.62%.

“The only three advancers were Japan’s Nikkei 225, Taiwan’s TAIEX and France’s CAC40, up by 1.02%, 0.6% and 0.05% respectively,” it said.