Global investors continue to be net sellers on Bursa

PETALING JAYA: Global investors continued their retreat from the Malaysian stock market, albeit at a slower pace, last week with RM48.5 million’s worth of equities offloaded, said MIDF Research.

The net amount sold off by foreign investors last week, which was based on transactions in the open market and excluding off-market deals, was lower than the RM63.1 million sold in the week before.

MIDF Research said foreign funds were net sellers in two out of five trading days last week, peaking and reaching a six-week high on Friday as they disposed of RM110.4 million net of Malaysian stocks.

“The attrition on Friday happened amid dampened sentiment following the terrorist attack in Barcelona and the resignation of White House strategist Steven Bannon. The weekly attrition was in line with those seen by regional peers, notably Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan,” it said in its fund flow report yesterday.

“The cumulative year-to-date inflow still stands at RM10.7 billion net despite two consecutive weeks of attrition,” it added.

Foreign participation rate continued to decline for the week. The foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) remained slightly above RM600 million but the decline was only 1%.

Retail participation was resilient as the retail ADTV fell only by 6% from RM882 million to above RM830 million last week, marking its third consecutive week of being above RM800 million.