Foreign funds net sellers on Bursa

PETALING JAYA: Foreign investors turned net sellers last week, albeit at a marginal pace, after three uninterrupted weeks of foreign net inflows, according to MIDF Research.

“Based on preliminary data from Bursa which excluded off-market deals, international funds sold RM69 million net of local equities last week, the second smallest weekly foreign net outflow recorded so far in 2018. Nevertheless, Malaysia saw the lowest level of foreign attrition last week amongst the four Asean markets we monitor,” the research house said in a note yesterday.

MIDF Research said there was a decent foreign net inflow of RM19.7 million on Monday but was later cancelled off by a small net outflow worth RM36.2 million on Tuesday.

“Foreign funds were on a roll on Wednesday and Thursday as they mopped up local stocks worth more than RM70 million on both days. Interestingly, foreign investors in other regional peers namely the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia were reducing their exposure during the same period.”

“However, offshore funds were back in selling mode on Friday but at a heightened level of RM209.3 million net, the highest in 16 trading days. The local bourse followed suit to decline by 0.72% to 1,777 points on the same day, the lowest close since late July 2018.”

Year-to-date, the total foreign net outflow from Malaysia as of last Friday stood at RM8.6 billion, offsetting about 86% of last year’s RM10.3 billion foreign net inflow.

Participation of foreign investors dipped as its weekly average daily traded value ended 8.2% below the RM1 billion mark for the first time in 13 weeks.

“Meanwhile, participation in the retail market and local institutional funds remained healthy above RM800 million and RM2 billion, respectively.”