MIDF: Foreign funds bought RM212.3m equities last week

KUALA LUMPUR: International funds acquired RM212.3 million net of local equities for the third week running last week, marking the longest buying streak since the 14th General Election on May 9.

MIDF Research said Malaysia was one of the two markets that attracted weekly foreign net inflow among Asean markets, besides Indonesia.

“Foreign investors first bought RM199.4 million net on Tuesday, followed by RM72.3 million net on Wednesday. The highest weekly foreign net attrition of RM37.9 million was seen on Thursday as foreign investors reacted to the interest rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve.

“The same trend was seen across Asean markets, namely Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia, with the highest foreign outflow of US$53.6 million (RM222 million) recorded in Thailand,” it said in its weekly fund flow report yesterday.

Nevertheless, offshore funds paced down the outflow on Friday, recording only RM10.9 million net attrition.

Last month saw a foreign net inflow of RM66.3 million.

Meanwhile, the year-to-date outflow from Bursa Malaysia as of last Friday stood at RM8.5 billion, the second lowest among four Asean markets.

MIDF said institutional investors were more active than the retail market and foreign institutions as their weekly average daily traded value (ADTV) was 7.3 per cent higher at RM2.2 billion.

The weekly ADTV of the foreign market declined by more than 10 per cent but still remained above its healthy level of RM1 billion, it said.

MIDF said in the retail market, ADTV grew 5.6 per cent to RM917.8 million.