KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has seen RM1.35 billion of equities outflow in June after foreign selling persist for the 10th consecutive month, said Maybank Investment Bank Bhd (Maybank IB).
This has lifted foreign investors' net selling to RM4.19 billion so far this year, reversing the net buy of RM4.4 billion in 2022, Maybank IB noted.
The firm said foreign holdings of the local stocks on Bursa Malaysia has fallen below 20 per cent to 19.9 per cent as at June 30, a new low since the global financial crisis.
Maybank IB said June's selling was almost a daily occurrence in 19 out of 20 trading days.
As for domestic institutions, the firm said they bought RM1.03 billion in June compared to RM710 million in May which lifted its net buy for first six months of 2023 to RM3.73 billion.
Retail investors bought RM310 million compared to just RM20 million in May, which brought its year-to-date net buy to RM460 million.
"Foreign investors' trade participation was higher month-on-month at 33 per cent, compared to 31.1 per cent in May, and domestic institutions was 39.9 per cent compared to 43.1 per cent in May and retail was 27.2 per cent," Maybank IB said.
Across Asean, Indonesian equities captured the largest foreign selling in June at US$293 million, followed by Malaysia at US$291 million and Thailand at US$263 million.
For the first six months, Thailand registered the largest foreign outflow at US$3.11 billion, followed by Malaysia at US$930 million and the Philippines at US$470 million.
"For Malaysia, the total foreign net sell for 12 months to June 2023, as percentage of market capitalisation, was 0.4 per cent," it said.
Maybank IB named Public Bank Bhd, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Hong Leong Bank Bhd as the top five stocks in Malaysia sold by foreign investors in June.
The market top buys were Malayan Banking Bhd, Gamuda Bhd, YTL Corp Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.