KUALA LUMPUR (April 30): Foreign funds acquired RM24.6 million of Malaysian equity last week, down RM582 million the prior week, according to MIDF Amanah Investment Bank  Bhd Research.

In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research’s Adam M Rahim said it was a modest start to the week as foreign investors bought RM35.9 million net of local equities on Monday.

However, he said panic conquered markets on Tuesday fueled by worries of increasing U.S Treasury yields could prompt more outflows from emerging markets.

“As a consequence, global funds withdrew RM191.4 million net of equities on Tuesday, the highest since March 28.

“The FBM KLCI followed suit to decline the most in two weeks by 0.80% on the same day,” he said.

Adam said although concerns on rising U.S Treasury yields continue to linger, attrition on Bursa gradually receded thereafter until RM9.20 million net on Thursday, buoyed by stable crude oil prices.

He said global investors returned strongly to Malaysia on Friday, snapping up RM277.3 million net while the FBM KLCI was back above 1,860 points after two days remaining below that level.

“Among the 4 ASEAN exchanges we track, Malaysia was the only beneficiary of inflows that day.

“We opine that investors took cue from the positive vibes of the meeting between the two Koreas which also attracted the comeback of foreign funds into North Asia,namely South Korea and Taiwan,” he said.

Adam said with only one-trading day left, April is set to be the first month of infl ows since January 2018 as the month-to-date figure shows an inflow of RM1.26 billion net.

He said this brings the year-to-date inflow RM3.46 million net.

Adam said foreign participation remained robust as the average daily trade value (ADTV) stood above the RM1 billion level for the 16th week this year.

He said the retail market meanwhile took a hit as its ADTV reached the lowest in 10 weeks at RM772.8 million.