Foreign funds return to Bursa

PETALING JAYA: The foreign tide has returned to Bursa Malaysia after three successive weeks of attrition, albeit only marginally.

This, week.

Bursa Malaysia was closed on Thursday and Friday last week for the National Day and Hari Raya Aidiladha festival.

“For the week, foreign funds acquired RM36.2mil net based on transactions in the open market, excluding off market deals. This is the lowest weekly foreign acquisition for the year,” MIDF Research said in its weekly fund report.

It noted that a six-day selling streak was snapped on Monday as global funds acquired RM7.10mil net on that day.

“Foreign buying momentum increased the next day by seven times to RM52.2mil net.

“However (last) Wednesday, international fund managers cleared their positions ahead of the long weekend, disposing RM23.1mil net,” MIDF said.

The month of August turned out to be the first month of net outflows this year which despite a holiday-shortened trading amounted to RM241.9mil net. Nonetheless, cumulative year-to-date net inflow still stands above the RM10bil mark.

The foreign participation rate was resilient for the week as the foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) remains above RM800mil for the fifth week in a row.

Retail participation edged higher for the week. The retail ADTV increased by 25% to RM865mil after three straight weeks being below RM700mil.

Meanwhile, the Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd stock was the beneficiary of the highest net money inflow of RM6.46mil.

The second highest net money inflow beneficiary was PPB Group Bhd, amounting to RM4.24mil while AirAsia Bhd saw the third highest net money inflow of RM4.09mil.

On the other hand, Gamuda Bhd saw the largest net money outflow at RM22.06mil last week.

Tenaga Nasional Bhd recorded the second largest net money outflow at RM18.89mil while Malayan Banking Bhd registered the third largest net money outflow at RM17.95mil.