KUALA LUMPUR (May 10): Foreign investors continued to be net sellers of Malaysian equities last week, which saw an outflow amounting to RM336.37 million, lower than RM376.45 million in the previous week, according to MIDF Research.

As the market reopened last Monday, the research house said foreign investors sold RM153.18 million net of local equities, with retailers and local institutions both as net buyers to the tune of RM36.72 million and RM116.45 million respectively.

“Foreign investors were net sellers every day except on Friday. The largest foreign outflow was recorded at RM155.35 million and the smallest outflow was at RM1.46 million. The only inflow recorded amounted to RM11.92 million,” it said.

According to MIDF, retailers were net buyers every day, with the largest net buying by retailers recorded on Thursday at RM143.39 million and the smallest net buying on Friday at RM28.84 million.

“Cumulatively, for the week, retailers net bought RM325.65 million worth of equities on Bursa,” it said.

Meanwhile, local institutions' cumulative weekly inflow was to the tune of RM10.72 million.

“The biggest net buying was on Monday at RM116.45 million. Meanwhile, the biggest net selling happened on Thursday at RM105.08 million,” it said.

MIDF also noted that since the beginning of 2021, cumulatively, retailers had been the only net buyers of Malaysia's equity market to the tune of RM6.33 billion.

“Local institutions and foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of RM3.13 billion and RM3.21 billion respectively,” it said.

In terms of participation, it said, retail investors recorded a weekly decrease of 10.23%, while local institutions and foreign investors recorded weekly increases of 13.77% and 24.08% respectively in average daily trade value (ADTV).

For the week ended May 7, the top three stocks with the highest net money inflows were Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK), Westports Holdings Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLB).

Meanwhile, the top three stocks with the highest net money outflows for the week were Top Glove Corp Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) and Hartalega Holdings Bhd.