KUALA LUMPUR (August 5): After taking profit the previous week, foreign investors re-entered Bursa Malaysia, resulting in a net purchase of RM242.1 million in equities last week, according to an MIDF Research note on Monday.

They initially started as net sellers, offloading RM17.2 million on Monday but turned to net buyers for the remainder of the week, with the most substantial net inflow occurring on Wednesday at RM120.7 million.

The top three sectors attracting foreign investment were Financial Services with net purchases of RM417.9 million, Construction with RM128.1 million, and Telecommunication & Media with RM49.8 million.

Conversely, foreign investors net sold Technology (-RM118.8 million), Utilities (-RM83.8 million), and Consumer Products & Services (-RM71.7 million).

Local institutions reversed their brief buying trend from the prior week to net sell RM363.1 million last week.

They net purchased RM35.5 million on Monday and RM7.3 million on Thursday but were net sellers for the rest of the week, with the heaviest selling on Friday at -RM199.9 million.

Local retailers marked their second consecutive week of net buying, acquiring RM121.0 million. They only sold on Monday and Thursday, with net sales of -RM18.3 million on Monday and -RM17.6 million on Thursday.

The average daily trading volume saw a significant +20.0% increase among foreign investors, whereas local institutions experienced a decline of -1.0% and local retailers a decline of -4.8%.

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