KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): Foreign investors snapped their two-week buying streak of Malaysian equities on Bursa Malaysia and turned into net sellers in the first trading week of 2021 with the net outflow amounting to RM337.02 million, said MIDF Research in a report today.

Foreigners were net buyers with inflows amounting to RM8.89 million and RM223.76 million for the week ended Dec 31 and Dec 25 last year respectively.

“In comparison to another three Southeast Asian markets (Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines) that we tracked last week, Thailand and the Philippines recorded a foreign net inflow, while Malaysia experienced the only outflow,” said MIDF.

For comparison, Thailand and the Philippines registered foreign net inflows of US$8.46 billion and US$2.48 billion respectively, while Indonesia’s net flow stood at zero.

Overall, in the first trading week of 2021, retailers in Malaysia finished strong as net buyers at RM699.7 million, while local institutions were net sellers at RM362.68 million.

“As the market reopened on Monday last week, foreign investors sold RM852.52 million net of local equities, with retailers and local institutions as net buyers to the tune of RM493.30 million and RM359.23 million respectively,” said MIDF.

According to the report, foreigners were only net sellers last Monday and Wednesday, where the combined outflow recorded was to the tune of RM950.99 million.

“The total inflow did not manage to reverse the selling momentum last week. The largest foreign inflow was recorded on Friday at RM435.51 million, while the smallest inflow was on Tuesday at only RM41.78 million,” it said.

Meanwhile, for last week, retailers were active buyers except on Tuesday and Friday.

“The largest net inflow was on Monday and the smallest on Wednesday to the tune of RM493.3 million and RM86.69 million respectively,” said MIDF.

In contrast, the market saw local institutions as net sellers except on Monday and Wednesday.

“The largest net selling was recorded on Friday at RM428.88 million and the largest net buying was on Monday at RM359.23 million,” said MIDF.

In terms of participation, retail investors recorded a weekly decrease of 19.42% in average daily trading value (ADTV), while foreign investors and local institutions experienced declines in ADTV of 108.61% and 108.61% respectively.

MIDF noted that in the first trading week of 2021, Top Glove Corp Bhd saw the largest net money outflow of RM23.83 million. 

“Its share price was 6.21% higher for the week, outperforming the FBM KLCI which increased 0.37% during the week,” MIDF said.

It added that Genting Bhd recorded the second largest net money outflow of RM4.66 million during the week under review, with its share price 7.62% lower during the week, underperforming the market benchmark which had a 0.37% weekly increase. 

“KLK (Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd) registered the third largest net money outflow of RM3.02 million in the week. Its share price was 1.35% higher during the week under review, outperforming the local benchmark which was 0.37% higher for the week,” MIDF said. 

Meanwhile, MIDF noted that Hartalega Holdings Bhd registered the highest net money inflow of RM8.16 million last week, with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) having the second highest net money inflow of RM4.74 million and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd the third highest net money inflow of RM3.52 million.