Foreigners turn net sellers last week after 18 weeks of buying

PETALING JAYA: Foreigners turned net sellers on Bursa Malaysia last week, offloading net RM99.6 million of equities after 18 relentless weeks of buying.
“Foreign investors succumbed to negative global sentiment and lifted their foot off the pedal on Bursa,” said MIDF Research in a note yesterday.
However, the outflow was contained as the selling by international fund managers amounted to only net RM99.6 million in four days of trading last week. This is based on preliminary data from Bursa, which excluded off-market trades.
The research house said there was relatively heavy foreign selling of RM189.3 million on Friday, the highest in a day this year, after the US Fed rate hike last Thursday and gains in US treasury yields, which boosted the US dollar. Despite the deficit last week, cumulative year to date purchases by foreign investors still amounted to net RM10.3 billion.
On a positive note, foreigners were actively trading Malaysian equities last week with foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) rising above the RM1 billion mark, up 60% from RM999 million to RM1.4 billion.
“Indeed foreign participation exceeded RM1 billion in three out of four trading days last week.”