Bursa sees 3rd straight week of net foreign selling

An analyst told Bernama that the macro factors expected to affect the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI next week, includes the Group of Seven(G7) meeting as investors search for clues on the trade outlook, as well as the timing of the next interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) which meets on June 12.

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign fund selling on Bursa Malaysia continued for a third straight week as oil prices fell sharply on concerns of impending oversupply.

According to MIDF research, foreign funds sold RM42.3mil net of local equities in the holiday-shortened week of Nov 19 to 23.

The bourse saw positive inflows in each of the trading days save a single heavy day of selling on Wednesday when international funds withdrew RM151.7mil net of local equities.

"This follows the sharp 6.4% drop in Brent crude oil price overnight as concerns of a global oversupply continue looming. 

"The massive outflow was in conformity with other regional peers, namely South Korea and Thailand," said MIDF.

MIDF said November looks set to be another month of outflows with the net outflow month-to-date amounting to RM474.1mil.

"While foreign investors have sold -RM10.42b of local equities on a year-to-date basis which offsets last year’s inflow of RM10.33b, Malaysia still has the second lowest foreign net outfl ow amongst the four ASEAN markets we monitor," it said.

Sime Darby Plantation Bhd registered the highest net money inflow of RM3.9mil over the week with its share price losing 1.52%. 

"Nonetheless, it is notable that net money infl ow amidst retreating share price may indicate a buy on weakness (BOW) stance among some investors," said MIDF.

Genting Bhd and British American Tobacco Bhd rounded out the top three counters with the most money inflows for the week.

Meanwhile, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Hong Leong Financial Group registered the top three outflows for the week.