Bursa Malaysia sees foreign buying after four weeks of inflow

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia has seen the first foreign outflow after four successive weeks of inflow, the research arm of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) observed in a fund flow report.

According to MIDF Research, based on preliminary data from Bursa Malaysia which excluded off market trades, the net amount sold by foreign investors on Bursa Malaysia last week was recorded at RM38.2 million.

“This latest weekly net attrition was substantially lower in comparison to the net amount sold in the week ended November 17, recorded at RM297.1 million,” it said.

MIDF Research noted that international investors were net sellers in two out of five trading days last weel. Tuesday recorded the greatest outflow amount of RM143.9 million since November 16 last year.

The research arm also noted that that the foreign net selling on Tuesday was in confirmity with other Asian markets namely Thailand, Philipines, India and Taiwan.

“On the next day, the global market saw an improvement with net buying by foreign investors following the passing of the new US tax bill.

“However, the mild recovery was short-lived as net selling occured on Thursday but on a reduced level far below RM100 million net,” it said.

MIDF Research highlighted that due to light foreign net selling last week, the cumulative yearto-date inflow slightly decreased to RM10.16 billion from RM10.2 billion.

“So far out of 51 weeks, there has been only 17 weeks of foreign selling, a figure which is still better compared to 2016 which was over 20 weeks.”

“Foreign participation dipped substantially last week as the foreign average daily trade (ADTV) eased by 48 per cent to RM733.5 million.

“Meanwhile, the retail ADTV staged a slight recovery, increasing by 3.4 per cent to RM934.6 million.”

Tenaga Nasional Bhd registered the highest net money inflow of RM28.69 million last week,followed by IOI Corporation Bhd recording the second highest net money inflow of RM26.1 million and Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd the third highest net money inflow of RM22.1 million.

Meanwhile, United Plantations Bhd saw the largest net money outflow of RM12.73 million last week.

Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd recorded the second largest net money outflow RM9.12 million during the week under review while Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd registered the third largest net money outflow at RM7.96 million.