KUALA LUMPUR (May 20): Foreign buying of Malaysian equities was sustained for the fourth consecutive week with a total of RM873.9 million last week, leading to a year-to-date net inflow of RM4.9 million.

In its fund flow report on Monday, the MIDF Research team said the sustained interest in the domestic market may have stemmed from economic optimism, as recent data revealed a 4.2% year-on-year rise in gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2024.

It said this exceeded both the 3.9% growth forecast by a Reuters poll and the advance estimate released by the government.

“Foreign funds were net buyers in Malaysia throughout last week, with the highest being on Wednesday, with a net inflow of RM299.98 million.

“This was the start of strong net buying by foreign funds, as subsequent days saw a net inflow of more than RM100 million every day (Thursday: RM269.2 million; Friday: RM184.3 million),” it said.

MIDF said the sectors with the highest net foreign inflows were transportation and logistics (RM223.6 million), utilities (RM189.1 million), and healthcare (RM183.3 million), while the only sectors with net foreign outflows were plantation (RM64.7 million) and construction (RM6.7 million).

“Local institutions continued their net selling streak for the third week in a row, with a total of RM379.7 million.

“For the 10th week in a row, local retailers persisted in divesting domestic equities, amounting to a total of RM494.1 million,” it said.

MIDF said in terms of participation, the average daily trading volume increased for local retailers (27.1%), local institutions (18.0%), and foreign investors (8.5%).

Commenting on the international scenario, MIDF said major markets demonstrated positive momentum, with 16 out of the 20 indices showing gains.

“Notable performers included Indonesia’s JCI (3.22%), Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (3.11%), and Taiwan’s TAIEX (2.65%).

“On the flip side, the weakest performers were France's CAC 40 (0.63%), Germany’s DAX 40 (0.36%), and the FTSE 100 (0.16%),” it said.