KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): Foreign investors continued to be net sellers, offloading RM574.5 million in equities last week.

MIDF Research said in its fund flow report today that when the market reopened last Monday, foreign investors sold RM157.6 million net in local equities, with retailers and local institutions serving as net buyers and net sellers at RM208.5 million and RM50.9 million respectively.

The research house noted that retail investors were active buyers for every day of the trading week. Last week’s largest net inflow was on Wednesday at RM267.9 million, while the smallest was on Thursday at RM41.5 million.

“December saw retailers as ardent net buyers. So far, there was only one day in the month where retailers were net sellers for Bursa,” it said.

However, MIDF Research noted that it was almost the opposite case for local institutions, which were net sellers every day except Thursday. The largest net selling seen last week was on Wednesday at RM88.86 million, while the only net buying was on Thursday at RM119.20 million.

Still, with the end of 2020 closing in, retailers and local institutions have been net buyers on Bursa Malaysia. Retailers were net buyers to the tune of RM13.14 billion, larger than local institutions (RM11.16 billion).

Year to date, foreign investors net selling reached RM24.8 billion worth of equities on Bursa Malaysia. When held up against the other three Southeast Asian markets that MIDF Research covered last week, Malaysia recorded the most foreign net outflow while Thailand experienced the smallest inflow compare to the others.

In terms of participation, retail investors recorded a weekly increase of 11.26% in average daily trade value (ADTV) while foreign investors experienced a 7.21% increase of ADTV while local institutions fell by 36.12%.

In terms of the top 10 net money inflows, Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd registered the highest at RM14.04 million last week. The counter was down 5.82% last week, underperforming the local bourse, which had a 3.87% weekly increase.

Meanwhile, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd saw the second-highest net money inflow at RM2.74 million,

“Its share price was [up by] 6.77% during the week, outperforming the local bourse... It is notable that net money inflow amidst retreating share price may indicate a buy on weakness (BOW) stance among some investors,” MIDF Research viewed.

DiGi.Com Bhd witnessed the third-highest net money inflow at RM2.59 million. Its share price was down 0.72% during the week, underperforming the local bourse.

Meanwhile, Public Bank Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd saw the most net money outflow last week.

Public Bank saw outflows of RM15.83 million last week. Its share price was 17.74% higher for the week, outperforming the FBM KLCI.

Top Glove saw outflows RM15.01 million. Its share price was 3.76% higher during the week, underperforming the benchmark index.

Meanwhile, Hartalega witnessed outflows of RM6.79 million. Its share price was 5.38% lower during the week under review, underperforming the local benchmark.