Foreign funds step up buying on Bursa Malaysia

Bursa Malaysia asked the company to disclose any corporate developments in the company including those at negotiation level. It must also divulge

KUALA LUMPUR: International investors upped the ante in stocks listed on Bursa despite the nerve-wrecking developments coming from the us, according to MIDF Research.

“Based on preliminary data from Bursa which excluded off market deals, the net amount acquired by foreign investors last week amounted to RM447.1mil net, three times larger than the RM141.2mil net bought in the preceding week,” MIDF said in its weekly fund flow report.

In fact this is the largest weekly inflow in eight weeks

The research house noted that Foreign buying occurred on four out of five trading days last week and peaked on Wednesday at RM159.2mil net ahead of the expected rate hike during Fed’s first meeting since Jerome Powell’s appointment.

The buying momentum slightly eased to RM112.2mil net on Thursday after the Fed maintained its outlook for a total of three rate hikes in 2018, less hawkish than expected.

Foreign investors were net sellers to a tune of RM30.9mil last Friday.

It is noteworthy that the pace of foreign selling in Malaysia and its Southeast Asian peers namely Indonesia and the Philippines was very slow ranging from RM7.9mil to RM77mil compared to North Asian markets which saw attrition levels reaching as high as RM349.7mil net.

“Overall for the week, only Malaysia and Thailand attracted net inflows in the Southeast Asian markets that we track,” MIDF said.

On a year-to-date basis, foreigners have accumulated RM2.50bil worth of local equities compared to the RM4.49bil mopped up during the same period last year.

Foreign participation slightly eased last week as the average daily trade value (ADTV) retreated 33% to RM1.09bil but marked its 12th week ofstaying above RM1bil.

The retail market also took a breather as the retail ADTV declined to settle below RM1bil for the first time in four weeks.

For the week ended March 23, Public Bank Bhd registered the highest net money inflow of RM22.45mil.

F&N Holdings Bhd recorded the second highest net money inflow of RM9.27mil while IHH Healthcare Bhd saw the third highest net money inflow of RM6.72mil.

On the other hand, Tenaga Nasional Bhd saw the largest net money outflow of RM43.33mil last week.  

 

CIMB Group recorded the second largest net money outflow of RM17.67mil while Kuala Lumpur Kepong registered the third largest net money outflow of RM11.73mil last week.