KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds flowed into the local market for a fourth consecutive week, although at a slower pace than previously.
In its weekly fund flow report, MIDF research noted that Bursa Malaysia saw a net inflow of RM146.8mil over the last holiday-shortened week.
For the month of January, the market recorded a total net foreign inflow of RM1.03bil, representing the fist monthly net inflow since September 2018.
"In comparison with the three other ASEAN markets we monitor, Malaysia has the second lowest foreign net inflow while Indonesia leads," said MIDF.
The local exchange started out strong on Monday with net foreign buying of RM37.3mil, which extended the daily buying streak to nine days.
There was an a net outflow of RM12.8mil on Tuesday coinciding with a drop in Brent crude oil price ahead of the US-China trade negotiations.
Bursa saw the highest net inflow of the week on Wednesday, to the tune of RM65.1mil, as the price of Brent crude jumped on Washington's sanctions against Venezuela's oil industry.
The momentum was carried through to Thursday, where offshore funds bought a net RM57.2mil of local equities.
Despite the inflow, the FBM KLCI slid slightly by 1% ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday.
Seeing the top money inflows of the week were Petronas Dagangan Bhd
, which registered RM24.45mil in net buying. Its share price rose 1.07%, which outperformed the local bourse, which lost 1.03% over the week.
This was followed by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Malayan Banking Bhd, which saw net money inflows of RM21.44mil and RM8.24mil respectively. Both banks saw dips of over 1% in their share price and underperformed the index despite the money inflow.
Net money outflows were led by Public Bank Bhd, which lost RM31.84mil while its share price dipped 0.08%.
British American Tobacco Bhd posted the second highest net outflow of RM20.56mil and a share price decline of 0.21%.
Lastly, IHH Healthcare Bhd saw net money outflow of RM16.86mil although its share price rose 0.54% during the week.
"It is notable that net money outfl ow amidst advancing share price may indicate a sell on strength (SOS) stance among some investors," said MIDF.
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