KUALA LUMPUR: The net value of local institution purchases in domestic equities rose to a whopping RM1.19bil last week even as the volatility that hit global markets sparked an outflow of foreign investment from Bursa Malaysia.
"They net bought every day last week, with the largest net buying amount seen on Monday at RM545.8mil.
"This was the largest net buy amount in a single day since 2018, when they net bought RM846.3mil on Feb 6," said MIDF Research its weekly fund flow report.
Meanwhile, the exit of foreign dollars from the local market came to RM768.4mil net.
Investors retreated from global equities en masse following a weaker than expected US jobs report, which sparked fears the Federal Reserve was too slow in paring back interest rates to stave off an economic recession.
MIDF said the net selling by foreign investors in the eight Asian markets it monitors rose by 30.3% over the previous week, to a total of US$5.15bil.
Given the weak sentiment, only three sectors on Bursa Malaysia were net bought by foreign investors, comprising telecommunications and media (RM10mil), healthcare (RM8.6mil) and plantations (RM7.1mil).
The three sectors that saw the highest amount of net selling by foreign funds were consumer products and services (RM151.8mil), property (RM149.5mil) and technology (RM120.2mil).
Local retailers were net sellers of RM424.6mil net of local equities.
The average daily trading volume (ADTV) on Bursa Malaysia showed an increase across all investor classes.
Foreign investors saw the highest surge by 47.4%, followed by local retailers at 47.3% and local institutional investors at 37.7%.
