KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds turned into net sellers with outflows of RM151.11 million worth of shares on Bursa Malaysia during the holiday-shortened trading week ended April 20, according to MIDF Research.
In its fund flow report for the week, the research house said foreign investors net sold RM22.82 million on Tuesday, RM93.57 million on Wednesday and RM68.83 million on Thursday.
“Monday was the only day with net inflows at RM34.11 million, where the top three stocks net bought by foreigners were RHB Bank (RM12.1 million), Pentamaster (RM8.1 million), and Fraser & Neave Holdings (RM7.0 million),” it noted.
The research house noted that the sectors with the most outflows were financial services (RM139.5 million), technology (RM44.8 million), and utilities (RM15.7 million).
On the other hand, the top three sectors that saw net foreign inflows last week were telecommunications and media (RM44.4 million), healthcare (RM18.4 million) as well as consumer products and services (RM9.7 million).
“Year-to-date, foreigners have net sold Malaysian equities for 10 out of 16 weeks, totalling RM1.93 billion,” it added.
Meanwhile, local institutional investors also turned into net sellers again last week with an outflow of RM7.3 million after briefly turning net buyers for two weeks.
“They net sold RM25.72 million on Monday and RM25.63 million on Tuesday, and net bought RM30.08 million on Wednesday and RM14.02 million on Thursday.
“Year-to-date, they have been net buyers for 11 out of 16 weeks with a total of RM1.82 billion.
In the meantime, local retailers were the top net buyers of the week at RM158.3 million, reversing its net selling trend for three consecutive weeks.
“The amount was the largest since the week ended Feb 10. They have net bought for eight out of 16 weeks this year, with a total of RM108.14 million,” said MIDF.
In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among local retailers by 6.5 per cent, while among local institutions and foreign investors, there were declines of 4.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively. — BERNAMA
