KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 11): Foreign funds sold equities listed on Bursa Malaysia amounting to RM613.7 million net, or equivalent to

US$140.2 million last week, according to MIDF Research.

In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research head Zulkifli Hamzah said this was in line with regional trend but the attrition was not as intense as that seen during many weeks in 2015.

“The selling was not outright last week. Foreign funds were actually net buyers on Wednesday although the amount was marginal.

“Most of the selling was on Monday and Thursday, which were the days when the market in China collapsed,” he said.

Zulkifli said that on last Monday, the net amount sold was RM130 million, reversing six days of buying.

He said that on Thursday, the amount surged to RM295.2 million, the highest since 13 November last year.

He said the selling continued on Friday although the market generally rebounded.

“We note that on Friday, foreign investors were also net sellers in Seoul, Taipei, Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila.

“Foreign participation rose last week but the amount remained in the moderate bracket at RM910 million. We believe many foreign players were still away from Bursa and are only gradually returning,” he said.

Zulkifli said rather striking from the statistics last week is the heavy local participation vis-a-vis that of foreigners.

He said that on Thursday in particular, the reaction to China’s second market meltdown during the week emanated mainly from local investors.

He said participation rate of local institutional funds hit RM2.5 billion on the day.

He said that more strikingly was the participation rate of retail investors which hit RM1.1 billion, which is only the 19th time that the figure exceeded the RM1 billion mark since 1 January 2015.

“For the week, local players were heavy supporters of the market with retailers and local institutions mopping up RM53.8 million and RM559.9 million respectively,” he said.