Foreign net buying on Bursa enters sixth week

PETALING JAYA: Foreign funds have been entering Bursa Malaysia for the sixth uninterrupted week last week, albeit at a slower pace following the holiday shortened week, acquiring RM344.6 million net of local equities, said MIDF Research.
But this was less than half of the RM872.6 million net acquired in the preceding week.
“During the three-day trading week, foreign investors were net buyers on two days,” the research firm said in its weekly fund flow report today.
“Foreign investors bought RM186.8 million net worth of Malaysian equities on Monday amid the rally in banking stocks due to the expectations that banks will benefit in terms of interest margins following the OPR hike announced on Jan 26, 2018,” it added.
MIDF Research noted that the FBM KLCI benchmark followed suit to settle at its highest level in more than three years at 1,870 points on the same day.
For the month of January, it said foreign investors have mopped up RM3.38 billion net which is eight times more than the RM418.8 million net acquired in the same period last year.
Additionally, it said foreign participation remained active as the foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) has been standing above the RM1 billion level for past five weeks.
On a weekly basis, the research firm said foreign ADTV increased by 46% from RM1.1 billion in the week before to RM1.6 billion last week, the highest since June last years.
The retail market was equally attractive as the retail ADTV remained above RM1 billion despite a weekly drop of 9% to RM1.3 billion, it added.