Foreign investors remained net sellers on Bursa Malaysia for the fifth consecutive with net foreign outflows amounting to -RM211.0 mil or more than 4 times the amount net sold during the week ended May 12. They have been net sellers for 14 out of 20 weeks with a total net foreign outflow of -RM2.39 bil, MIDF Research cited today (May 22).
“Every trading day last week was a net selling day by the foreigners except for Thursday (May 18) which saw a net foreign inflow of RM38.5 mil,” the research house pointed out in its weekly fund flow report. That day saw foreign investors picking up counters such as Maybank (RM16.9 mil), Top Glove Corp Bhd (RM9.9 mil), IHH Healthcare Bhd (RM9.8 mil) and Inari Amertron Bhd (RM8.2 mil).”
Nevertheless, foreign funds turned net sellers on Friday (May 19) when the data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) showed a decline in trade growth by -14.5% yoy (year-on-year) in April 2023, largely due to lower domestic exports. “
The only three sectors that saw net foreign inflows were transportation & logistics (RM37.4 mil), technology (RM3.3 mil) and healthcare (RM1.9 mil) while the top three sectors that saw net foreign outflows were consumer products & services (-RM70.0 mil), industrial products & services (-RM40.5 mil) and financial services (-RM32.5 mil).
Meanwhile, local institutional investors remained net buyers for the fourth consecutive week to the tune of RM355.6 mil or about seven times higher than the amount net bought during the previous week.
Every trading day was a net buying day by the local institutions with the heaviest net inflow recorded on Tuesday (May 16) at RM105.3 mil. Year-to-date (YTD), they have been net buyers for 15 out of 20 weeks with a total net inflow of RM2.45 bil.
However, the local bourse saw continued net selling by local retailers for the third consecutive week to a tune of -RM144.6 mil. Every trading day was a net selling day by local retailers with the heaviest outflow recorded on Thursday (May 18) at -RM65.1 mil. Year-to-Date, local retailers have been net sellers for 11 out of 20 weeks, resulting in a total net outflow of -RM51.2 mil.
On participation, a decline was seen in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across the board – retailers (-4.8%), local institutions (-5.6%) and foreigners (-10.5%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, Indonesia posted the highest net foreign fund inflow with US$60.3 mil followed by Vietnam (US$33.4 mil) and the Philippines (US$4.2 mil) while Thailand topped the highest net outflow list with-US$311.5 mil followed by Malaysia at US$46.8 mil.
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Maybank (RM40.1 mil), Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (RM34.3 mil) and IHH Healthcare Bhd (RM27.1 mil).
