OUTFLOW CONTINUES FOR SIXTH WEEK

Foreign selling of equities on Bursa Malaysia hit RM1.21b

UP to last week, foreign investors have sold off Malaysian equities amounting to RM1.21 billion year-to-date, marking the sixth consecutive week of outflows with a weekly total of RM336 million.

According to MIDF Research, a similar selling streak was observed in mid-2023, spanning 12 straight weeks of foreign net selling.

“The breakdown of last week’s outflows included RM99.4 million on Monday, RM253.4 million on Wednesday and RM132.7 million on Friday.

“However, there were net inflows of RM134.3 million on Tuesday and RM15.2 million on Thursday,” it said yesterday.

The property sector saw the highest net foreign inflows at RM104.4 million.

Financial services recorded the highest net foreign outflows at RM417 million.

MIDF said that in contrast, local institutions persisted in their net buying trend for the sixth consecutive week, with a net purchase of RM557.4 million.

It said they net-sold RM81.3 million on Tuesday but were net buyers for the rest of the week, amounting to RM638.7 million.

“Local retailers maintained their net selling stance on Bursa Malaysia for the fourth straight week, disposing of RM221.4 million net. They net sold every day last week and have been net selling for 21 consecutive trading days.”

On participation, MIDF said the average daily trading volume declined across all investor classes last week.

UOB Global Economics & Markets Research said foreign portfolio flows turned negative again in March (RM1.2 billion) after a month of marginal inflows in February (RM0.1 billion).

Bank Negara Malaysia’s foreign reserves dropped for the second straight month by US$0.5 billion month-on-month to US$113.8 billion as of end-March (end-February: US$0.6 billion month-onmonth to US$114.3 billion).