BURSA Malaysia continued to benefit from the stream of net inflows as foreign investors continued to re-position their funds ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s expected easing this week.

Foreign investors net bought RM217.6 mil last week (Sept 9-13) resulting in the fifth straight week of net buying. For the record, they had earlier mopped up RM1.5 bil for the week of Aug 26-30, followed by RM798.3 mil the week prior (Sept 2-6).

“While they net sold -RM129.8 mil on Wednesday (Sept 11) and -RM95.1 mil on Thursday (Sept 12), foreign investors net bought for the remainder of the week,” observed MIDF Reserve in its weekly fund flow report.

The top three sectors that recorded the highest net foreign inflows were utilities (RM335.0 mil), property (RM52.8 mil) and construction (RM49.4 mil) while the top three sectors with the highest net foreign outflows were consumer products & services (-RM71.2 mil), financial services (-RM47.3 mil) and healthcare (-RM35.4 mil).

Elsewhere, local institutions snapped their four consecutive weeks of net selling after net buying RM3.5 mil last week. They net sold -RM274.6 mil on Tuesday (Sept 10) and -RM12.4 mil on Friday (Sept 13) but net bought for the rest of the week.

However, local retailers returned to net selling at -RM221.1 mil after briefly net bought RM162.2 mil the week prior. They only made net purchases of RM16.7 mil on Wednesday (Sept 11) but were net sellers for the rest of the week.

The average daily trading volume (ADTV) surged +12.5% and +10.6% among local institutions and foreign investors respectively while local retailers saw a decline of -5.4%.

In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research, Indonesia recorded its 12th consecutive week of net inflows at US$1.33 bil - the highest weekly amount in over two years.

Meanwhile, Thailand posted its third straight week of net foreign inflows at US$281.4 mil last week while foreign investors also continued to channel their funds into the Philippines which recorded its fifth successive week of net inflows at US$47.3 mil last week.

However, Vietnam recorded its fourth week in a row of net foreign outflows at -US$45.5 mil last week.

The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Tenaga Nasional Bhd (RM3239.2 mil), Public Bank Bhd (RM167.3 mil) and Hong Leong Bank Bhd (RM103.9 mil). - Sept 17, 2024

https://focusmalaysia.my/foreign-funds-channel-rm218m-net-into-bursa-ahead-of-this-weeks-us-interest-rate-cut-prospect/