KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 28): Foreign funds mopped up RM455.1 million of local equities at Bursa Malaysia last week, up from RM417.2 million in the preceding week, according to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Research.
In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research's Adam M Rahim said as the local bourse reopened after the Thaipusam holiday, global investors rushed to buy local equities at a tune of RM158 million net, marking the third straight day of net inflows standing above RM100 million.
"It was also notable that the FBM KLCI closed above 1,700 points for the first time since late November 2018, bucking the trend of other major Asian markets which dipped such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan.
"The momentum of foreign net inflows on Wednesday slowed down to RM29.5 million as global growth worries were revived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland," he said.
Adam said risk sentiment was dampened further by the rumour on the cancellation of the meeting between President Trump's administration and Chinese trade officials due to the lack of progress on forced technology transfers but was refuted by US presidential adviser, Larry Kudlow.
"Nonetheless, the level of foreign net buying reached above the RM100 million mark at RM105.6 million on Thursday, as positive corporate results from the US soothed investors' nerves that the US economic recovery was still on track.
"Foreign net inflows gained momentum to hit RM162.1 million on Friday as the overnight rally in US chipmakers outweighed comments from US Commerce Secretary stating that the US and China are still far away from achieving a resolution on trade," he said.
Adam said so far in 2019, Malaysia has seen a foreign net inflow of US$213.5 million or RM879.5 million, the second lowest among the four ASEAN markets MIDF Research monitors.
He said the participation rate of foreign investors was stronger last week, indicated by the average daily traded value (ADTV) which jumped by more than 30% for the week to reach RM1.3 billion, the highest in eight weeks.