Foreign funds net sellers on Bursa at RM910m

Foreign funds remained net sellers at Bursa Malaysia in the week ended July 24 at net RM910.2mil, which was the 23rd consecutive week of foreign net selling, MIDF Research says.

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds remained net sellers at Bursa Malaysia in the week ended July 24 at net RM910.2mil, which was the 23rd consecutive week of foreign net selling, MIDF Research says.

It said on Monday that year-to-date (YTD), foreign investors have sold net RM18.8bil.

“In comparison with the other six Asian markets we track, Malaysia still has the fourth smallest foreign net outflow on a YTD basis, ” it said.

MIDF Research said foreign funds were net sellers every day last week.

As markets reopened on Monday last week, foreign investors disposed -RM110.7mil net of local equities.

On Tuesday, the foreign net outflow increased to -RM295.8mil following the announcement by the government that movement control order (MCO) could be reimposed as the sporadic Covid-19 cases started to climb.

Foreign net inflow subsided on Wednesday and Thursday last week at a tune of -RM137.3mil and -RM23.4mil respectively.

MIDF Research said the lower net foreign selling potentially due to the Malaysia’s Leading Index (LI) grew 0.6% year-on-year in May 2020 from a decline of 5.7% YoY in April 2020 on Thursday last week.

This was also the first growth since February 2020, signalling a rebound in the economy since MCO.

However, foreign investors remained in risk-off mode as U.S.-China ties deteriorated further when the US asked China to close its Houston consulate in 72 hours on Tuesday last week.

On Friday, Bursa experienced the highest foreign net outflow at a -RM342.8mil on mounting geopolitical headwinds.

China retaliated by ordering the US to close its consulate in Chengdu, adding greater uncertainty over the US-China tensions which might have negative ramifi cations in the region.

MIDF Research said in comparison to another three South East Asian markets tracked last week, Malaysia recorded the highest foreign net outflow while Philippines experienced the least foreign net outflow.

In terms of participation, the foreign investors experienced a weekly increase in average daily traded value by 0.1% to reach RM1.4bil which was above the healthy level of RM1bil, it said.