FOREIGN investors maintained their net buying streak on Bursa Malaysia for the sixth consecutive week last week but with inflows moderating to RM52.7 mil.

Net buying occurred from Monday (Aug 14) to Wednesday (Aug 16) with Wednesday (Aug 16) experiencing the highest net foreign inflow at RM106.4 mil, according to MIDF Research.

“However, foreigners shifted to becoming net sellers by the end of the week, potentially prompted by the release of two weak economic data,” the observed the research house in its weekly fund flow report.

“In July, total exports fell by -13.1% year-on-year (yoy) to RM116.75 bil while total imports shrank by -15.9% year-on-year (yoy) to RM99.66 bil. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s GDP grew at a slower-than-expected rate of +2.9% yoy in 2Q 2023.”

Year-to-date (YTD), foreign investors have been net sellers of domestic equities at a rate of -RM2.41b.

The top three sector that posted net foreign inflows were property (RM165.3 mil), technology (RM27.4 mil) and plantation (RM23.9 mil) while the top three sectors with net foreign outflows were industrial products & services (-RM106.5 mil), healthcare (-RM49.6 mil) and REITs (-RM27.1 mil).

On the other hand, local institutions turned net buyers at RM76.1 mil for the week ended Aug 18 after net selling for the past five weeks. YTD, local institutions have been net buyers at RM2.76 bil.

Going into the sixth consecutive week, local retailers have net sold -RM128.8 mil worth of domestic equities last week. YTD, local retailers have been net sellers at -RM348.9 moil.

In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across the board - retail investors at +24.9%, local institutions (+28.2%) and foreign investors (+11.9%.).

In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, only Malaysia posted a net foreign fund inflow with US$11.5 mil while Indonesia again recorded the highest net outflow at -US$222.1 bil, followed by Thailand (-US$121.6 mil), Vietnam (-US$41.4 mil) and the Philippines (-US$11.5 mil).

The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Maybank (RM74.2 mil), SP Setia Bhd (RM65.7 mil) and UEM Sunrise Bhd (RM32.7 mil) - Aug 21, 2023

https://focusmalaysia.my/net-buying-by-foreign-funds-into-bursa-moderated-due-to-less-convincing-economic-data/