KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): Foreign investors turned net sellers in the first week of 2022 and disposed of RM62.15 million Malaysian equities, compared to an inflow of RM17.77 million in the prior week.

In its weekly fund flow report on Monday, MIDF Research’s Shahira Rahim said that as the market reopened last Monday (Jan 3), foreign investors began the week as net buyers after acquiring RM37.35 million net of local equities.

However, foreigners were net sellers last Thursday and Friday, with a combined recorded outflow of RM141.01 million.

“This reversed the total inflow observed last Monday to Wednesday. The largest foreign inflow was recorded last Monday at RM37.35 million and the smallest inflow was on Wednesday at only RM19.16 million,” the analyst said.

According to Shahira, retailers were active sellers except last Thursday, where there was an inflow of RM37.61 million.

“The largest net outflow was on Friday and smallest on Tuesday to the tune of RM24 million and RM15.06 million respectively,” she added.

Meanwhile, Shahira said that it was the opposite for local institutions, which were net buyers except last Monday and Tuesday.

“The largest net buying was recorded last Thursday at RM83.17 million and the largest net selling was on Monday at RM18.08 million,” she elaborated.

Overall, in the first week of 2022, local institutions finished strong as net buyers at RM103.84 million, while retailers and foreign investors were net sellers at RM41.69 million and RM62.15 million respectively.

In terms of participation, retail investors, local institutions and foreign investors recorded weekly movements of 21.18%, 3% and 19.16% respectively in average daily trade value.

Commenting on the international market, Shahira said equity markets turned mixed last week as investors shifted their focus from sooner-than-expected interest hikes as well as worries over the new Covid-19 variant called IHU, which emerged in France.

She added that the KLCI dropped 1.56% despite a better performance of factory activities.

“To note, Malaysia’s IHS Markit Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) edged up to 52.8 (November 2021: 52.3), expanding for the third consecutive month, following the economic reopening,” the analyst said.