PETALING JAYA: Foreign funds took out RM319 million net of local equities last week, which was not much of a change from the RM369.2 million net outflow in the preceding week.
“Offshore funds remained as net sellers on Bursa for the second week, marking the third weekly inflow so far this year,“ MIDF Research said in its fund flow report today.
It said last Monday recorded a foreign net inflow of RM118.1 million net, the highest inflow recorded during the week amidst signs of progress from the US-China trade negotiations.
Global investors later disposed of RM47.7 million net of local equities on Tuesday while the local bourse inched 0.8% to close above 1,700 points for the first time since Jan 25.
Foreign funds made a modest return, snapping up RM27 million net on Wednesday, coinciding with the FBM KLCI’s biggest daily gain since late December 2018 of 1.15%. The rally was partly attributable to Wall Street’s modest start to the week as well as rising Brent crude oil price which climbed above US$66 per barrel.
However, foreign net selling was back on Bursa on Thursday to a tune of RM116.2 million which then swelled to RM300.2 million on Friday.
MIDF said much of the sentiment was affected by the Malaysia’s consumer prices declining by 0.7% year-on-year in January, the first contraction since 2009.
With four trading days left in the month of February 2019, foreign investors have so far disposed of RM525.1 million net, bringing the year-to-date foreign net inflow into Malaysia to RM501.4 million or US$120.4 million.
“On the regional front, Malaysia remains as the nation with the lowest foreign net inflow amongst the four Asean markets we monitor with Indonesia taking the lead with a year-to-date net inflow of US$755.8 million or RM3 billion,“ MIDF said.
Meanwhile, participation amongst all investor groups increased during the week. Foreign investors recorded the largest weekly advance in average daily traded value, increasing by 41% to remain above the healthy level of RM1 billion.
