PETALING JAYA: The intensity of foreign net selling activity on Bursa Malaysia softened last week during the holiday-shortened week as international investors sold RM663.8 million net of local equities compared with RM714.7 million disposed in the week before.
“For the month of May 2020, foreign investors disposed RM3.0 billion net, the second highest monthly foreign net outflow so far this year after March. This brings the year-to-date foreign net outflow from Malaysia to RM13.3 billion which is still the third smallest foreign net outflow among the seven Asian markets we monitor,“ MIDF Research said in its fund flow report today.
As Bursa reopened from a long weekend last week, international investors dumped RM362.5 million net of local equities on Wednesday. This was the highest foreign net outflow in a day since the middle of March 2020. Nevertheless, retail and local institutional investors mopped up local equities at a tune of more than RM100 million net with strong interest in rubber glove counters, pushing the local bourse 1.0% higher on the same day.
Offshore investors continued to sell on Thursday but at a slower pace of RM227.1 million net. Risk-on sentiment on that day was boosted by Wall Street’s overnight rally which saw the Dow Jones soar 553 points on mounting optimism that global authorities were taking measures to enhance economies. For instance, the European Commission proposed an US$826 billion stimulus package to aid recovery from the economic slowdown induced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Foreign net selling on Friday reduced to a level below RM100 million at RM74.2 million as positivity grew for economies in Asia will gradually reopen from pandemic lockdowns. The local stock barometer followed suit to settle 1.0% higher at 1,473.3 points, the highest close in more than a month.
In terms of participation, only foreign investors saw a substantial weekly increase in their average daily traded value (ADTV) to reach RM3.5 million. This is the largest weekly ADTV since the week ended June 1, 2018.
