Retail participants biggest investors

KUALA LUMPUR: Retail participants were the biggest investors on Bursa Malaysia last year, with net buying amounting to RM14.3 billion compared with institutional investors’ RM10.3 billion.

Foreign investors remained net sellers with outflows of RM24.6 billion, more than double the RM11.1 billion in 2019, said the Securities Commission (SC) in its annual report yesterday.

The Malaysian equity market witnessed an exceptional level of trading activity by retail investors last year, similar to many other countries, said the SC.

It conducted an in-depth assessment on this trend, focusing on the characteristics of retail investors in August last year, where numerous all-time highs in total market-wide volume were recorded.

Overall, the assessment was done on an identified sample population of more than 19,000 Central Depository System (CDS) accounts.

“The sampling was based on the most active CDS accounts that, in aggregate, contributed to two-thirds of the total volume traded in each of the most active stocks in August last year.”

Of the 19,329 CDS accounts sampled for review, 14,118 accounts were retailers.

The report also showed that 83 per cent of the retail volume was attributed to stocks priced below 50 sen, and 75 per cent of the retail trading interest was in ACE Market and fledgling stocks.

“Some 56 per cent of retail trades were in stocks from the industrial products and services and technology sectors.”

Based on investor profiles, the SC said 82 per cent of retailers aged 60 and above placed their trade electronically, and this accounted for 21 per cent of the volume traded.

Retailers aged 30 and below and the 30 to 39 age group scored the highest percentage in electronic trading at 94 and 93 per cent, respectively.

As for the fund management industry, total assets under management (AUM) expanded 10 per cent to RM905.5 billion in December last year from RM823.2 billion a year ago.

The unit trust segment remained the largest source of funds for AUM.