Malaysia’s net foreign inflow at US$1.09bil in 2022, third best among Asia’s Top 8

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has seen a total net foreign inflow of US$1.09 billion in 2022, making it the third best performing market out of the eight Asian exchanges tracked by MIDF Research.

The best performing market is Thailand with a net foreign inflow of US$5.96 billion folllowed by Indonesia with US$4.27 billion.

At the end of 2022, foreign investors had been net buyers for 27 out of 52 weeks of 2022, with a total net inflow of RM4.38 billion, according to MIDF Research.

In contrast, local institutions were net sellers for 33 weeks out of 52 weeks of 2022, with a total net outflow of RM6.42 billion.

Local retailers have also been net buyers for 33 weeks out of 52 weeks of 2022, with a total net inflow of RM2.04 billion.

In terms of participation, the average daily trading volume (ADTV) for local retailers (up10.0 per cent), local institutions (up 32.6 per cent) and foreign investors (18.8 per cent) recorded growth last week.

MIDF Research said foreign investors turned net sellers during the last trading week of the year at a rate of RM204.6 million.

It was a reversal from the net buying of RM51.2 million worth of Malaysian equities during the week ended Dec 23 2022.

Last week was a shortened trading week due to the replacement for Christmas holiday on Monday.

Foreigners started off the week on a positive note by net buying RM10.1 million on Tuesday and RM99.2 million on Wednesday.

However, the amount net bought was inadequate to overturn the profit taking that took place on Thursday at a rate of RM9.8 million and on Friday at RM304.1 million.

The top three sectors with net foreign inflows were healthcare at RM16.5 million, technology at RM12.3 million and transportation and logistics at RM7.2 million.

The top three sectors that saw net foreign outflows were plantation at RM64.7 million, industrial products and services at RM57.1 million and financial services at RM46.0 million.

Local institutions were seen accumulating domestic equities as they net bought RM290.4 million last week.

During the week ended Dec 23 2022, they net sold RM52.1 million of equities.

Tuesday and Wednesday were net selling days at a rate of RM44.6 million and RM149.0 million respectively.

Their investing stance took a positive turn on Thursday as they net bought RM41.6 million with the heaviest net buying seen on Friday at RM442.4 million.

On the other hand, local retailers turned to net sellers at a rate of RM85.8 million. They had been net buying for three consecutive weeks prior to that.

Local retailers net bought RM34.4 million on Tuesday and RM49.9 million on Wednesday.

They started taking profit for the rest of the week at a rate of RM31.8 million on Thursday and RM138.3 million on Friday.

NST