KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 18): Foreign investors snapped their three-week selling streak of Malaysian equities with a net purchase of RM235.1 million last week, from net selling of RM27.7 million the prior week.
In its weekly fund flow report on Monday, MIDF Research said that year-to-date, foreign investors have been net sellers of domestic equities at a rate of RM2.47 billion.
“The top three sectors with net foreign inflows last week were utilities (RM105.5 million), construction (RM53.6 million) and plantation (RM49.9 million).
“Meanwhile, sectors with net foreign outflows were healthcare (RM50.5 million), REITs (RM50 million) and consumer products and services (RM22.4 million),” it said.
MIDF said local institutions concluded their four-week net buying streak by selling RM131.5 million last week.
It said that year-to-date, local institutions have netted RM3.16 billion in inflows.
“For the 10th consecutive week, local retailers continued to sell domestic equities, with net sales amounting to RM103.7 million last week.
“Year-to-date, local retailers have seen outflows of RM687.3 million,” it said.
MIDF said in terms of participation, there was a decrease in average daily trading volume by retail investors (12.9%) and local institutions (9.6%), while foreign investors saw an increase (68.5%).
Commenting on the international scene, MIDF said global indices largely concluded the week with gains, disregarding the recent stronger-than-anticipated US economic data, including the August 2023 inflation figures, as investors expected these developments to have a limited impact on the US Federal Reserve’s upcoming monetary policy decision.
“Out of the 20 major indices in our tracking, 13 saw gains last week. The UK’s FTSE 100 (3.12%) had the largest increase, followed by Japan’s Nikkei 225 (2.84%) and Singapore’s Straits Times (2.27%).
“The most significant decliners were the Philippines’ PSEi (1.55%), Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh VSE (1.14%) and China’s Shenzhen CSI 300 (0.83%).
“The FBM KLCI ended slightly higher by 0.28%,” it said.