Foreign funds continue buying on Bursa but at slower pace

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds continued buying Malaysian equities last week at a slower pace of RM525.75mil, from RM1.18bil the prior week, according to MIDF.

The research house said international funds have been net buyers on Bursa Malaysia for 10 out of the first 12 weeks of 2022, with a net inflow of RM6.12bil year-to-date.

“Foreign investors turned net sellers at RM8.6mil on Monday when the market reopened last week, ending its 30-day streak of net buying, but turned net buyers again for the rest of the week.

“The largest net inflows from foreign investors were on Thursday (RM176.5mil), Tuesday (RM134.3mil) and Friday (RM114.5mil),” MIDF said in its weekly fund flow report.

Local institutions, who have been strong net sellers, ended its 31-day net selling streak on Monday with a net buy of RM58.3mil before turning net sellers again from Tuesday to Friday.

MIDF said the largest net outflow was recorded on Tuesday (RM225.2mil), Thursday (RM191.7mil), followed by Wednesday (RM105mil).

“Overall, local institutions were net sellers at US$565.5mil,” it added.

The research house noted that local retailer movements were rather mixed last week with three days of net selling and two days of net buying, culminating with a net buying position for the week at RM39.9mil.

Retailers were net sellers on Monday (RM49.8mil), Wednesday (RM4mil) and Friday (RM12.4mil) and net buyers on Tuesday (RM90.94mil) and Thursday (RM15.21mil).

“Year-to-date, local institutions are net sellers to the tune of RM6.61bil while local retailers have been net buyers at RM492.8mil,” MIDF said.

In terms of participation, only local institutions saw an increase in average daily trade value (ADTV) by 5.74%.

Foreign investors and local institutions recorded declines of 61.77% and 8.87% respectively.