KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Foreign investors net bought RM1.5 billion in equities in Malaysia for the third consecutive week, said MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF).
In its fund flow report for the week ended August 30, 2024, MIDF said foreign investors net bought every day last week, marking the highest weekly net buying amount so far this year and the highest since the week ended March 18, 2016.
The top three sectors were financial services of (RM1.3 billion), utilities (RM259.7 million) and construction (RM88.7 million).
"They net sold in technology (–RM60.4 million), transportation and logistics (–RM57.2 million) and industrial products and services (–RM41 million)," it said.
Meanwhile, local institutions net sold –RM1.26 billion last week, the highest since the week ended March 4, 2022.
MIDF said they net bought RM13.9 million on Monday but net sold from Tuesday to Friday.
Similarly, local retailers net sold for the second consecutive week at –RM245.4 million. They only net bought RM26.3 million on Thursday.
The average daily trading volume saw an increase of +49.9 per cent among foreign investors while local institutions and local retailers saw declines of –0.4 per cent and –2.8 per cent, respectively.
On a separate matter, MIDF said the uptrend in the semiconductor industry and the rollout of various construction projects in the second half (2H) of 2024 are expected to continue supporting Malaysia's economic growth.
In a research note, MIDF also anticipated the export recovery to continue in 2H 2024, driven by foreign demand for both electrical and electronics (E&E) and non-E&E products.
"Export growth accelerated to 12.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in July 2024, marking the fastest growth in more than 1.5 years, driven by stronger domestic exports (18 per cent y-o-y), supported by higher shipments of palm oil and palm oil products, as well as rebounds in exports of E&E and petroleum products.
"By destination, exports grew faster to major destinations except China and Hong Kong," it said today.
MIDF said Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated to 5.9 per cent y-o-y in the second quarter (2Q) of 2024, marking the fastest expansion in six quarters, compared to 1Q 2024 of 4.2 per cent y-o-y.
It noted that the great GDP performance also surpassed the advance estimate of 5.8 per cent y-o-y.
"For 1H 2024, the economy expanded 5.1 per cent y-o-y, stronger than the 3.0 per cent y-o-y in 2H 2023.
"The robust performance was driven by sustained resilience in domestic demand, improvements in manufacturing activities, and recovery in external trade," it said.
Therefore, MIDF predicted that Malaysia’s economic growth to grow stronger at 5.0 per cent this year, given the robust growth in 2Q 2024.
— Bernama
