KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 — Foreign buying of Malaysian equities surged 3.6 times to RM1.06 billion last week from RM292.2 million the prior week, as purchases were recorded daily throughout the week.
According to the latest weekly Fund Flow Report by MIDF Research, this marked the strongest weekly net buying figure in two years, with the last instance of such substantial inflows observed in the week ended March 18, 2022, at RM1.18 billion.
“Foreign investors made net purchases of RM451.8 million on Monday (April 29), RM184.3 million on Tuesday, RM43.0 million on Thursday, and RM376.1 million on Friday.
“The sectors that saw the highest net foreign inflows were utilities (RM443.7 million), financial services (RM277.3 million), and telecommunications and media (RM140.4 million), while the sectors experiencing the highest net foreign outflows were energy (RM22.4 million), plantation (RM16.9 million), and property (RM10.4 million),” it said.
MIDF Research said local institutions took a breather from their strong support for the local market when they net sold RM943.1 million last week, after nine straight weeks of net buying.
“They were net sellers every day last week,” it said.
The report also highlighted that local retailers sustained their net selling streak for the eighth consecutive week, totalling RM112.2 million.
“In terms of participation, the average daily trading volume increased across all investor classes, with foreign investors leading with a surge of 22.0 per cent, while local institutional investors and local retail investors saw increases of 16.7 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively,” it said.
MIDF Research observed that in the broader Asian context, foreign funds returned to the region at a rate of US$1.09 billion last week after two weeks of net selling, driven by robust net buying activities in Taiwan, following positive movements in tech stocks on Wall Street. (US$1 = RM4.74).
“South Korea and Malaysia were the two other countries where foreigners recorded net buying, while the five other countries that we track experienced net outflows,” it said.
All markets were closed on Wednesday for Labour Day.
On the international front, major markets continued to perform positively last week, with 16 out of the 20 monitored indices posting gains.
“The top performers included Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (4.67 per cent), followed by the Nasdaq (1.43 per cent), and the Jakarta Composite Index (1.40 per cent),” it added. — Bernama
