KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 21): After three weeks of selling, foreign investors shifted to buying domestic equities, resulting in a significant inflow of RM404.1 million last week, compared to the RM45.7 million outflow recorded in the previous week.

In its fund flow report on Monday, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd said foreign investors were net buyers every trading day last week, except for last Monday, which saw a sell-off of RM64.9 million.

“The largest net foreign inflow occurred last Thursday, totalling RM226.3 million,” it said.

MIDF said the sectors that recorded the highest net foreign inflows were financial services (RM181.0 million), property (RM68.6 million), and industrial products and services (RM63.8 million),

Meanwhile, it said the sectors that registered the highest net foreign outflows were consumer products and services (RM65.4 million), technology (RM13.9 million), and energy (RM10.0 million).

“Local institutions recorded a net purchase only last Monday, amounting to RM55.2 million, and were net sellers for the rest of the week, with an overall net sell of RM384.2 million. Local retail investors, after three weeks of buying, decided to take profit, resulting in a net sell of RM20.0 million.

“The average daily trading volume showed declines across all investor classes except foreign investors, gaining 5.3%. Local retailers experienced the highest decline at 10.7%, while local institutions recorded a decrease of 4.2%,” it said.

Regionally, MIDF said foreign investor activity in Asia remained negative last week, with a total net outflow of US$1.9 billion (RM8.2 billion).

However, it said last week’s outflows showed improvement compared to the previous week, suggesting a potential stabilisation of sentiment as markets absorbed various global economic developments.

“Taiwan attracted the largest inflow in Asia last week, drawing US$1.4 billion.

“Market expectations for tighter liquidity have increased as interest-rate swaps in Taiwan approached record highs, following the central bank’s unexpected decision in September to raise the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 25 basis points, after a similar increase in June,” it said.

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