PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia saw foreign investors disposing of RM447.9 million net of local equities last week, the second largest weekly foreign outflow so far in 2020.
In a report, MIDF said was a tough start for the local bourse as foreign funds took out RM102.7 million net of local equities on Monday.
“Sentiment was clouded by the slash in 2020 GDP growth estimate by Singapore amidst potential impact of Covid-19 on trade and tourism while Thailand posted its slowest economic growth expansion in five years for 2019.”
The following day saw outflow accelerated to RM123.6 million, which was in sync with other regional peers such as South Korea and Taiwan after Apple Inc. warned that it is unlikely to meet its revenue guidance for the first quarter of 2020.
On Wednesday, international funds took a breather as they snapped up RM25.4 million net of local equities.
“Risk-on mood on improved on news that new Covid-19 cases continued to fall with 1,749 new infections and 136 new deaths announced on the same day,” MIDF explained.
However, the research house noted that worries resurfaced as South Korea reported its first death from the Covid-19 while Japan confirmed two deaths from a quarantined cruise ship, resulting in a RM103.8 million disposal by offshore investors on Thursday.
“Jitters remained in markets as Friday saw the largest foreign net outflow in two weeks of RM143.3 million net, dragging the local stock barometer down by 0.3% to 1,531.2 points, the lowest close since early February this year.”
It said foreign net outflow for the first three weeks of February stood at RM704.8 million. On a year-to-date basis, the net selling was RM843.1 million, the third largest among the seven Asian markets tracked by MIDF.
In terms of participation, the average daily traded value of foreign investors declined the most by 14.1% for the week to go below the healthy level of RM1 billion.
