10 minutes
PETALING JAYA: Foreign funds outflow slowed down to RM367.1 million net of local equities on Bursa Malaysia last week, marking the sixth straight week of foreign net selling activities.
MIDF Research reported that the week started on a bumpy note as international investors took out RM131.1 million of local equities on Monday, on the back of optimism on strong US jobs report from the preceding Friday, outweighed by weak export figures of China.
“Foreign net selling inched lower on Tuesday to reach RM123.4 million net as investors appear reluctant to place bets ahead of the Dec 15 deadline for the US to place more tariffs on China.,” it said in a report.
The following day saw offshore investors continue to lower their selling activity to RM112.2 million as the Trump administration and House of Democrats reached a deal that would move the US-Mexico-Canada agreement forward.
On the other hand, MIDF Research highlighted that Thursday saw international funds make a modest return to Bursa buying RM39.7 million net of local equities, snapping the 16-day foreign net selling streak.
“The local stock barometer followed suit to see its first gain in four days after the US Fed left its key benchmark rate unchanged through 2020 amidst a solid economic outlook,” it said.
However, MIDF revealed that the foreign net inflow was short-lived as foreign funds sold RM40 million net of local equities on Friday.
“This was despite news that President Trump agreed to a limited trade agreement with Beijing that will roll back existing tariffs on Chinese goods, effectively averting the new waves of tariff scheduled on Dec 15, 2019,” it explained.
MIDF Research stated that December has so far seen a foreign net outflow of RM1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, the year-to-date foreign net outflow from Malaysia has reached RM11.13 billion, only RM561 million short of last year’s total foreign net outflow of RM11.69 billion.
In terms of participation, foreign investors saw the sharpest increase in average daily traded value (ADTV) amongst the other investor groups, gaining 49.4% to reach RM1.08 billion.
