Foreign funds sold RM1.2b so far in October

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia recorded a net outflow of RM1.2 billion so far this month, bringing the year-to-date outflow to RM9.8 billion.

MIDF Research analyst Adam M. Rahim said Malaysia still had the second lowest outflow among four Asean markets it tracks.

“Participation among foreign investors, local institutional funds and investors in the retail market took a slight breather last week as their weekly average daily traded value went lower by more than 10 per cent compared with the preceding week,” he said in a weekly fund flow report yesterday.

Adam said investor participation remained healthy although international funds continued to sell Malaysian equities for the third week running.

Foreign funds disposed of a net RM128.7 million in local equities last week, excluding off-market deals, based on preliminary data from Bursa Malaysia.

“This was about one-eighth smaller than the amount withdrawn in the preceding week.”

He said international investors were net sellers on four days.

Offshore funds sold a net RM77.9 million on Monday, pulling the local bourse to end 0.12 per cent lower at 1,729 points.

He said the risk-off tone was sparked by United States-Saudi Arabia tensions.

“Foreign net selling then shrank to just RM17.3 million on Tuesday before spiking up to RM31.8 million on Wednesday while the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI advanced 0.22 per cent to 1,740 points, the highest closing during the week.”

He said Bursa Malaysia’s nineday foreign selling streak came to an end on Thursday as offshore funds acquired a net RM33.3 million.

“Among the four Asean markets we track, Malaysia was the only country experiencing inflows that day as sentiment was hampered by the United States Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance.”

However, he said foreign investors were back in the selling mode on Friday, withdrawing a net of RM35 million.