Foreign investors remain net buyers of RM11.35mil in Bursa equities

KUALA LUMPUR: Despite the selling pressure seen on Bursa Malaysia over the past week, foreign investors were net buyers on the domestic market to the tune of RM11.35mil in equities.

According to MIDF Research data, the positive performance bucked the regional trend as Bursa Malaysia's peer markets experienced sharp net selling.

"Based on the provisional aggregate data for the seven Asian exchanges that we track, investors classified as “foreign” sold -USD4.87b net last week, compared to +USD2.10b in the preceding week," said the research firm in its Monday fund flow report.

The positive foreign inflow on Bursa Malaysia however was significantly less than the net inflow of RM397.85mil recorded in the previous week.

Foreign funds were net sellers on Bursa on Monday and Wednesday but turned net buyers on Thursday and Friday. The stock exchange was closed on Tuesday due to the Thaipusam public holiday.

Retail investors however were net buyers on everyday of the week except on Monday. Over the four-day trading week, retailers were net buyers of RM35.3mil worth of equities on Bursa.

Local institutions were net sellers to the tune of RM46.84mil, having been net sellers on everyday except on Monday.

There was an overall drop in trading participation across all three categories of investors.

Retails investors, local institutions and foreign investors recorded a weekly fall of 14.4%, 6.54% and 9.17% in average daily trade value.

The FBM KLCI fell 1.8% over the course of the previous week to end at 1,527.03 on Friday as investors pulled out of global equities ahead of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later this week.