KUALA LUMPUR (July 31): Foreign net buying of local equity continued into the third week at RM637.8 million as of last Friday (July 28) — the highest since they net bought in the week ended March 18, 2022 to the tune of RM1.18 billion, said MIDF Research.

The research house said that last Monday (July 24) saw a net sale of RM18.6 million but foreign investors remained net buyers for the remaining week. Friday saw the highest inflow with RM181.4 million.

Between last Tuesday (July 25) and Friday, net inflows from foreign investors were more than RM100 million each day, averaged at RM164.1 million daily, said MIDF in a report on Monday (July 31).

Its analyst Royce Tan Seg Hooi reported that the top three sectors which saw net inflows by foreign investors last week (July 24-July 28) included utilities at RM253.4 million, plantation (RM127.8 million) and financial services (RM86.3 million).

He added that the three sectors with net outflows in the same period were real estate investments trusts (REITs) at RM22.6 million, industrial products and services (RM22.4 million), and telecommunications and media (RM8 million).

“Year-to-date, foreign investors have net sold RM3.06 billion,” said Tan.

Meanwhile, he also noted that local institutions and local retailers entered into its third consecutive week of net selling.

Local institutions net sold RM403.9 million, the highest since the week ended Aug 19, 2022 at RM675.9 million. They net bought on Monday at RM54 million, but were net sellers for the remainder of the week.

Year-to-date, local institutions have net bought RM3.13 billion, he said.

Tan said local retailers net sold at RM233.7 million, and net sold everyday starting with RM35.4 million last Monday, RM63.8 million last Tuesday, RM54.3 million on Wednesday (July 26), RM56.3 million on Thursday (July 27) and RM24 million last Friday.

“They have net sold RM67.9 million year-to-date,” said Tan.

In terms of participation, Tan said there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across the board.

“It was 2.5% higher among retail investors, whereas for local institutions and foreign investors, both categories saw a 7.3% increase in ADTV.”

In other markets, Tan said that it was another week of positive performance across the globe, amid the optimism with the US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s forecast to no longer be looking at the US economy experiencing a recession this year.

Tan noted that 17 out of 20 markets that he tracked were advancing during the week, while the remaining markets declined.

The top performers include the CSI 300 at 4.47%, the Hang Seng Index (4.41%) and the Straits Times Index (2.83%).

“The only decliners last week were the Sensex (0.79%), the PSEi (0.34%) and South Korea’s Kospi (-0.06%),” said Tan.