KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 — Foreign funds continued to flow into Malaysia for the second consecutive week as they net bought RM152.9 million last week, said MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd.

In its weekly Fund Flow Report today, the bank’s unit MIDF Research said foreign funds were net sellers only on Tuesday at RM14 million, just prior to the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, but this was easily offset by the net inflows recorded in the four other trading days.

“The strongest net inflow from foreign funds was on Thursday at RM50.5 million, which was during and after the FOMC meeting,” it noted.

MIDF Research said the week started with a net inflow of RM25.1 million on Monday by foreign investors and ended with a net inflow of RM18.9 million on Friday.

“Local institutions maintained their net selling stance for the third week coming at a rate of RM70.7 million.

“They were net sellers at RM62.8 million on Thursday, RM36.9 million on Wednesday and RM11.5 million on Monday,” it said, adding that these were softened by net buys on Tuesday and Friday at RM15.2 million and RM25.4 million respectively.

Local retailers were still net sellers last week at the rate of RM82.3 million.

“They were net sellers every day of the week, with the heaviest outflow on Friday at RM44.3 million and the lowest on Tuesday at RM1.2 million,” it noted.

The research house also revealed that local retailers had been net selling for eight consecutive trading days.

The top three sectors which saw net inflows by foreign investors were financial services, utilities and consumer products and services.

These came in at RM222.8 million, RM49.8 million and RM25.1 million respectively.

Meanwhile, the top three sectors with net outflows were industrial products and services at RM86.0 million, technology at RM59.2 million and plantation at RM12.5 million.

To date, international funds have been net buyers for 19 out of the 30 weeks of 2022, with total net inflows of RM6.27 billion.

“Local institutions were net sellers for 23 out of 30 weeks, with a total net outflow of RM7.96 million. Local retailers have been net buyers for 19 out of 30 weeks of 2022. Year-to-date, they have been net buyers at RM1.7 billion,” it said.

MIDF Research said the end of July saw foreign funds posting a net inflow, which was a reversal from the net outflow seen in June. The net inflow for the month of July was RM182.2 million.

In terms of participation, there was an increase in the average daily trade value (ADTV) among retail and institutional investors by 10.98 per cent and 17.17 per cent respectively.

There was a decline in ADTV among foreign investors by 8.81 per cent, it said. — Bernama