Heightened selling on Bursa Malaysia from bevy of bad news

KUCHING: Offshore funds fled Bursa Malaysia at a rather heightened pace last week, fuelled by domestic bad news like the termination of the Mass Rapid Transit 2’s (MRT2) underground work contract and global ones such as Wall Street suffering its biggest loss in eight months.

Based on preliminary data from MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd ( MIDF Research) which excluded off market deals, foreign funds withdrew RM1.05 billion net of local equities last week which represented the largest weekly foreign net outflow in 16 weeks.

“International investors were net sellers on every single day of the week,” it said in its weekly recap. “Monday’s foreign net selling of RM227.2 million was of no surprise as investors reacted towards Sunday’s announcement of the termination of the MMCGamuda’s underground work contract for MRT2.

“The level of foreign net selling then tapered to go below RM200 million on the next two days; Tuesday and Wednesday supported by hopes that the international retendering process of the MRT2 underground works would be reviewed by the government.

“However, Thursday saw chaos as international investors sold RM327.9 million -- the highest in a month -- after Wall Street suffered its biggest loss in eight months overnight as technology companies remained a drag combined with worries of increasing interest rates,” it saw.

“Foreign net selling then was almost halved to RM173.8 million on Friday in tandem with the rebound of the local of bourse by 1.3 per cent following news that US President Donald Trump could meet Xi Jinping during the next G20 summit.”

The total foreign net outflow from Malaysia as of last Friday stood higher at RM9.7 billion, offsetting approximately more than 90 per cent of last year’s RM10.3 billionforeign net inflow.

Nevertheless, MIDF Research Malaysia saw the second lowest level of foreign attrition last week amongst the four Asean markets it monitored.

Malaysia also retained its position as the nation with the second lowest year-to-date foreign net outflow amongst the four Asean markets it tracked.

“Participation amongst foreign investors, local institutional funds and investors in the retail market were strong last week as their weekly average daily traded value were higher than 20 per cent compared to the preceding week,” it observed.

TenagaNasionalBhdregistered the highest net money infl ow of RM11.02 million last week, followed by Top Glove Corporation Berhad in second place with RM7.18 million and Public Bank Bhd in third with a net money inflow of RM6.95 million.

Gamuda Berhad saw the largest net money outflow of RM17.83 million last week. This was followed by Petronas Chemicals Berhad with RM5.31 million outflow and Fraser & Neave Holdings Berhad with a RM3.31 million outflow.