Foreign funds continued to leave Bursa Malaysia as the net selling continued for the third consecutive week. Foreigners net sold -RM536.0m last week, only -3.8% lower than the net selling amount of -RM556.9m the week before.
They net sold every day of the week, with the highest amount recorded on Tuesday at -RM251.3m, followed by -RM99.7m on Thursday and -RM90.3m on Friday. Sentiments remained weak due to the challenges faced in the US banking sector. Foreign investors have been net sellers for the 13 trading days, since March 1. They have net sold -RM1.78b year-to-date. Out of the 11 weeks so far this year, they have been net sellers for eight weeks.
Sectors that saw net foreign inflows were Construction (RM67.9m), Technology (RM13.2m) and Transportation & Logistics (RM7.8m), while the sectors that saw net foreign outflows were Financial Services (-RM-359.5m), Industrial Products & Services (-RM90.3m) and Consumer Products & Services (-RM63.5m).
Meanwhile, local institutions continued to support domestic equities, net buying for the third consecutive week. They net bought RM565.7m, the highest weekly amount in 2023 and the highest since the week ended Dec 9, 2022. Local institutions were net buyers every day, the strongest seen on Friday at RM187.7m. As opposed to foreign investors, they have been net buyers every day since March 1. They have net bought RM1.76b of equities, with eight out of 11 weeks net buying.
Local retailers turned net sellers at a rate of RM29.7m last week after three consecutive weeks of net buying. They net sold every day except on Tuesday when they net bought RM113.2m. The highest net selling amount by local retailers was on Friday at RM97.5m. Year-to-date, they have net bought RM14.8m of equities, with six out of 11 weeks of net buying.
In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among local retailers by 18.4%, local institutions by 40.4% and foreign investors by 51.0%.
