Foreign funds step up buying on Bursa for second day

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds continued their buying on Bursa  Malaysia for the second day on Thursday with net buying rising to RM391.6mil.

According to BIMB Equities Research data, this saw the net buying rising to RM741.6mil over the past two days. They were net buyers at RM350mil on Wednesday.

However, local institutions and retail investors continued to take profit. Local institutions were net sellers at -RM341.9mil and retail -RM49.7mil.

BIMB Research said European bourses ended lower as investors began cautious ahead of a key US jobs report. 

But Wall Street closed higher with energy shares maintaining gains after a rebound by oil futures. 

The DJIA gained 0.26% to end at 16,943.90 and S&P500 was up 0.35% to 1,993.40.

In Asia, key indices ended mostly higher with strong gains in Japan and Korea as rising oil prices and signs of an improving U.S. economy appeared to restore investor confidence. 

The FBM KLCI lost 2.83 points or 0.17% to 1,688.20, dragged down mainly by telco and healthcare counters.

“We expect the market to rebound following overnight gains in the U. with the index to hover around 1,690 to 1,695,” it said.