The foreign funds took out a net amount of RM46.8 million from the local exchange in the second trading week of the new year but their local counterparts more than compensated for the loss, with investments of RM339.4 million.
The foreign funds began their selloff on Monday when they jettisoned RM4.7 million worth of Malaysian equities, according to MIDF Research.
On Tuesday, the outflow rose to RM12 million and then shot up to RM73.3 million on Wednesday before the foreign funds turned net buyers on Thursday, picking up just RM2.3 million worth of stocks.
The buying extended to Friday when the local exchange saw an additional investment of RM40.98 million coming in from foreign funds.
On the other hand, local institutions were net buyers every day last week, with the highest net inflow on Thursday at RM119.3 million and the lowest on Friday at RM26.7 million.
On a year-to-date basis, both local and foreign funds still have surplus investments in Bursa to show.
Local institutions have picked up a total of RM215 million worth of Malaysian equities so far this year compared with RM25.6 million by their foreign counterparts, MIDF said in a research note today.
The foreign funds’ substantial selloff early in the week had little impact on the benchmark FBM KLCI. Apart from Tuesday, when it took a dip, the market was bullish throughout, closing the week at 1,495.03 points for a 14.48-point gain for the week.
The benchmark index had begun last Monday at 1,480.55 points.
The foreign investors were focused mostly on the industrial products and services sector, where they picked up RM39.2 million worth of stocks during the week.
The other sectors that also benefited from foreign fund inflows were technology, which took in RM24 million and healthcare which saw RM17 million worth of investments.
On the other hand, the consumer products and services sector was the biggest loser. Foreign funds sold RM77.9 million of their holdings in the sector last week. The others that also saw foreign investors pull out were telecommunications and media, which lost RM26.9 million and financial services which saw an outflow of RM20.6 million.
Meanwhile, the continuous upbeat momentum in the domestic economy and modest expansion in external trade boosted the local institutions’ interest in the market, MIDF Research said.
However, the retail traders did not share the same sentiments. They were net sellers every day of the week, selling RM121.6 million worth of equities on Thursday, the highest for the week after dropping RM24.9 million worth of stocks the day before, which was the lowest for the week.
For the week, retailers had net sold RM292.6 million.
On a year-to-date basis, the local retailers had disposed of RM240.5 million worth of Malaysian equities.
“In terms of participation, there was an increase in average daily trading volume among retail investors, local institutions and foreign investors at 13.7%, 34.6% and 38.1% respectively,” MIDF Research told Bernama.