Foreign selling on Bursa tops RM1b for fifth time this year

PETALING JAYA: The net value of Malaysian equities offloaded by foreign investors last week stood above the RM1 billion level for the fifth time this year at RM1.89 billion.
"Stocks listed on Bursa have been subjected to foreign selling for the past eight uninterrupted weeks," MIDF Research said in its weekly funds flow report today.
As of June 22, offshore investors have been withdrawing Malaysian equities for 33 consecutive days since May 2, surpassing the 29-day selling streak recorded in early January to mid-February 2014.
Global funds sold the most on Tuesday at RM555 million net, coinciding with the FBM KLCI's largest decline in 13 trading days at 1.61% as the US-China trade friction intensified.
Selling activity thereafter tapered below the RM400 million level on Wednesday and Thursday at RM384 million and RM264.9 million net respectively.
In spite of the gradual decline in attrition, Bursa Malaysia's key index moved in an opposite direction to slide further to the lowest close since February 2017 at 1,692 points on Thursday and marked its 9th straight day of losses as Telekom Malaysia led decliners, dropping as much as 12% amid worries over a slash in broadband prices.
The FBM KLCI inched higher by 0.11% on Friday amid window-dressing activities before the second quarter of the year ends. However, foreign selling was seen at RM444 million on the same day, as trade friction between Beijing and Washington continued to be the biggest worry among investors. These external developments are expected to continue to affect the pace of flows into and out of Malaysia.
Foreign participation remained active despite the 23% decline in foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) as the value stood above RM1 billion for the 12th week running.
Although the retail ADTV was below RM1 billion for the second week at RM865 million, retailers have been entering the market for the past six consecutive weeks.