KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign investors on Bursa Malaysia posted the largest net selling amount in 19 weeks, at RM503.1 million last week.
MIDF Research said in a note that although foreign investors were net sellers for the majority of the week, with the largest net selling amount of RM268.3 million on Wednesday, they were net buyers on Tuesday for RM189.7 million.
"The sectors with the highest net foreign inflows were utilities (RM274.0 million), transportation (RM61.4 million), and telecommunications and media (RM31.2 million), while the sectors with the highest net foreign outflows were financial services (RM515.9 million), industrial products and services (RM107.6 million), and plantations (RM76.1 million)," it said in a report.
As opposed to foreign investors, local institutions net-bought RM443.5 million after five straight weeks of net selling.
Local retailers also net-bought last week, totalling RM59.6 million, after net selling for three consecutive weeks.
In terms of participation, Bursa Malaysia saw increases in average daily trading volume (ADTV) across all investor classes.
Local retailers saw an increase of 14.0 per cent while local institutions and foreign investors saw increases of 13.1 per cent and 109.8 per cent respectively.
On a monthly basis, foreign investors remained net buyers for the fourth straight month in February at RM1.32 billion, almost double the amount in January at RM678.4 million.
The top three sectors that recorded net foreign inflows were utilities (RM656.6 million), financial services (RM302.4 million), and telecommunications and media (RM193.1 million), while the top three sectors with net foreign outflows were industrial products and services (RM109.2 million), plantations (RM105.5 million), and real estate investment trusts (RM88.5 million).
"In contrast, local institutions remained net sellers for the fourth month, with the net selling amount totalling RM967.5 million as compared to RM15.5 million in January.
"Meanwhile, local retailers continued their trend of net selling for the ninth consecutive month, disposing of RM354.5 million net," said MIDF Research.