Foreign funds net sellers on Bursa at RM57m

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds took profit on Bursa Malaysia on Monday and were net sellers at RM57.20mil, according to BIMB Securities Research.

It said on Tuesday retail investors were also net sellers at –RM28.7mil but the selling was well absorbed by local institutions which were net buyers at RM85.9mil.

The FBM KLCI closed higher on Monday on last minute buying of Sime Darby, which saw the 30-stock index closing higher at 1,848.66 (up 2.80 points) despite some profit taking from the foreign funds.

“We would expect the local bourse to continue trending on a narrow range of 1,845/50 and may see the index to re-test the 1,850 threshold today,” it said.

BIMB Research said traders returned following China’s 1% cut in its reserve requirement ratio on Sunday coupled with anticipation that tech earnings on Wall Street may exceed expectations.

As such the DJI Average jumped 208.63 points to close above the 18,000 mark at 18,034.93 on Monday. Similarly, the Chinese stimulus also boosted European markets as most ended the day on a firmer note.

In Asia, stocks were mostly in the negative territory following China’s move to clamp down on margin financing. As a result, the Hang Seng was down 2.02% while the Shanghai CI and Shenzhen CI lost 1.99% and 1.64% respectively.