Foreign buying on Bursa picks up

PETALING JAYA: The net amount acquired by foreign investors last week amounted to RM190.9 million, a huge improvement from the RM4.5 million bought in the week before, prior to the long weekend.
MIDF Research said based on preliminary data from Bursa which excluded off-market deals, global investors entered Malaysia for the second week in a row but at a heightened pace.
Foreign buying occurred on three out of five trading days last week. Monday recorded the highest daily inflow in 10 trading days, amounting to RM164.3 million net, pushing the FBM KLCI by 1.04% to 1,857 points.
“We reckon that foreign investors were pumped up to start the first day of trading for the Year of the Dog as there were ready to track gains from Wall Street in the preceding week. Foreigners continued buying on Tuesday but at a measurable pace of RM31.8 million net amid a lack of fresh catalysts as US markets were closed overnight on Monday,” MIDF said in its fund flow report.
However, it said Wall Street’s slump on Wednesday spurred by minutes of the Fed’s January meeting indicating the need to raise rates caused a pullback in Asian markets including Malaysia on Thursday.
“Hence, it was no surprise that foreign investors sold US$30.8 million (RM120.6 million) net that day. Interestingly, the FBM KLCI’s 0.17% decline on Thursday was not as bad as other Southeast Asia peers.”
The FBM KLCI rebounded to end the week at 1,862 points supported by foreign buying totaling to RM48.5 million net.
“We note that sentiment was uplifted on Friday after Public Bank’s shares hit a record high of RM22.90 following its positive FY17 results released the day before,” said MIDF.
So far in 2018, foreign investors have accumulated RM2.1 billion net of local equities, a stark contrast from the RM1.3 billion bought in the same period of 2017.
It is noteworthy that foreigners remain active as the foreign average daily trading value (ADTV) has been above the RM1 billion for eight straight weeks. The retail ADTV meanwhile recovered, increasing by 53% for the week to RM1 billion from RM663 million.