Foreign selling on Bursa Malaysia easing, says MIDF Research

MIDF Research said in retrospect, foreigners offloaded -RM19.5bil and -RM6.9bil in 2015 and 2014 respectively.

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign fund selling on Bursa Malaysia tapered to RM54.20mil in the week ended Oct 13, slowing down from the net selling of RM82.90mil a week earlier, according to MIDF Research.

This was the fourth straight week that foreign funds had been reducing their shareholdings of Malaysian equites, it said.

“Last week’s attrition reduced the cumulative net foreign in?ow into shares listed on Bursa to RM9.47bil net slightly lower than the peak of RM11.08bil in September. 

“The cumulative amount is still impressive compared to the -RM3.01bil and -RM19.5bil recorded in 2016 and 2015, respectively,” it said.

MIDF Research pointed out that there was a notable peak in foreign selling on Friday at -RM73.0mil net, as the positive Malaysian data released this week which included distributive trade and industrial production, did not act as a strong catalyst to attract foreign buying. 

“However on the same day, the FBM KLCI slightly gained by 0.08% to settle at 1,755. 

“We note that last week’s foreign selloff was in conformity with what was seen in South East Asian peers, notably Indonesia and the Philippines,” it said. 

MIDF Research said Malaysian Airports  Holdings (MAHB) registered the highest net money in?ow of RM5.24mil last week. 

MAHB’s share price outperformed the FBM KLCI which fell 0.49% for the week. 

“It is notable that the net money in?ow amidst declining share price indicates a buy on weakness (BOW) stance among investors.

“Time dotCom recorded the second highest net money in?ow of RM4.13mil. Nevertheless, its share price slightly outperformed the market benchmark with a 0.43% loss during the review week,” it said.

The research house said Genting Malaysia saw the third highest net money in?ow of RM3.04mil. 

Meanwhile, KL Kepong saw the largest net money out?ow of –RM29.59mil last week. Its share price performed better than the KLCI.

As for Sime Darby, it recorded the second largest net money out?ow of -RM27.82mil during the week under review. 

CIMB meanwhile registered the third largest net money out?ow at -RM17.77mil.