KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — Local institutions bought RM443.5 million worth of equities on Bursa Malaysia last week, after five straight weeks of net selling, said MIDF Research.

In its Fund Flow Report for the week ended March 1, the research house said local retailers also net bought RM59.6 million worth of equities last week, after net selling for three consecutive weeks.

However, it said foreign investors’ buying spree on Bursa Malaysia halted last week after they net sold RM503.1 million worth of equities, the highest net selling seen in 19 weeks.

"They net bought RM189.7 million on Tuesday but were net sellers for the rest of the week, with the highest net selling seen on Wednesday at RM268.3 million,” it said.

MIDF Research also said the sectors with the highest net foreign inflows were utilities (RM274.0 million), transportation (RM61.4 million) and telecommunications and media (RM31.2 million).

Meanwhile, sectors with the highest net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM515.9 million), industrial products and services (-RM107.6 million), and plantation (-RM76.1 million).

In terms of participation, it said there were increases in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across all investor classes, with local retailers seeing an increase of 14.0 per cent, while local institutions and foreign investors saw increases of 13.1 per cent and 109.8 per cent, respectively.

The research house reported a surge in net buying activity by foreign investors in Asia during February, totalling US$10.72 billion across the eight markets it monitored, a stark contrast to January’s figure of US$468.6 million.

"This is the fourth consecutive month of net buying since November 2023,” it said.

On Bursa Malaysia, foreign investors also remained net buyers for the fourth straight month at RM1.32 billion in February, almost double the amount in January which stood at RM678.4 million. — Bernama