Foreign investors turned net sellers, ending their two-week consecutive streak of net buying activity across Asian markets last week, recording US$1.71 billion (RM7.23 billion) of net foreign outflows.
MBSB Investment Bank Bhd’s fund flow report for the week ended Oct 17 said that among the markets tracked, only India, South Korea, and Indonesia registered net foreign inflows, while the rest saw net selling activity, which was led by Taiwan, posting the largest regional outflow.
“India extended to a two-week consecutive streak of net foreign purchases, registering the region’s largest net foreign inflow at US$968.5 million, a 4.9 times increase compared to the previous week.
“South Korea extended its streak of net buying activity to three consecutive weeks, recording US$569.5 million in net foreign inflows, while Indonesia extended to a two-week consecutive net buying streak, registering foreign purchases of US$117.9 million,” it said.
Back home, MBSB IB said foreign investors extended to a two-week consecutive net selling streak, posting net outflows of RM962.8 million.
It said foreign investors were net sellers every trading day last week, with Monday seeing the highest net selling activity at RM393.5 million, followed by Tuesday (-RM320.0 million), Friday (-RM190.8 million) and Wednesday (-RM47.5 million).
“The smallest outflow occurred last Thursday, which saw a moderate withdrawal of RM11.0 million,” it said.
The investment bank noted that only three sectors recorded net foreign inflows last week, namely consumer products and services (RM518.9 million), technology (RM87.3 million), and construction (RM6.5 million).
It said the top three sectors that recorded net foreign outflows were financial services (-RM835.5 million), healthcare (-RM270.3 million), and utilities (-RM106.7 million).
MBSB IB also noted that local institutions extended net buying activity into the second consecutive week, recording purchases of RM1.32 billion, while local retailers extended to a six-week consecutive net selling streak, posting net outflows of RM357.4 million.
“The average daily trading volume experienced a broad-based increase last week, [where] local retailers and foreign investors recorded increases of 26.7% and 18.7% respectively, while local institutions saw a decrease of 4.3%,” it said.