KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign net selling eased off last week compared to the week before.

Foreign investors net sold RM107.1 million worth of stocks on Bursa Malaysia - lower compared to the net selling amount of RM536.0 million in the previous week.

"All other days showed net inflows with a sum of RM40.8 million except for Monday and Thursday," MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) said in its Fund Flow Report for the week ended March 24, 2023.

The highest net selling occurred on Monday at RM88.5 million, followed by RM59.43 million on Thursday.

Over the 15 trading days since March 1, the top three sectors that saw net foreign inflows were healthcare at RM90.0 million, transportation and logistics at RM24.4 million and construction at RM15.9 million.

Meanwhile, the bottom three sectors that saw net foreign outflows were industrial products and services at RM70.5 million, utilities at RM50.5 million, as well as consumer products and services at RM49.2 million.

In contrast, local institutions continued to support domestic equities, net buying for the fourth consecutive week.

"They net bought RM13.5 million last week, lower in comparison to the highest weekly amount in 2023 and the highest since the week ended Dec 9, 2022 - last week of RM566.7 million," it said.

As opposed to foreign investors, local institutions have been net buyers every day since March 1, 2023 except for March 22 and March 24.

Local institutions have net bought RM1.78 billion of equities, with nine out of 12 weeks of net buying, said MIDF Research.

Meanwhile, local retailers turned net buyers at a rate of RM84.7 million last week.

"The strongest net inflow was recorded on Friday at RM65.2 million while the largest net outflows happened on Tuesday at RM21.1 million.

"Year to date, they have net bought RM99.5 million of equities, with seven out of 12 weeks of net buying," it said.

In terms of participation, there was a drop in average daily trading volume among local retailers by 16.3 per cent, local institutions by 25.3 per cent and foreign investors by 41.1 per cent.

 - BERNAMA