KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 19): MIDF Research said there had been sustained foreign buying on Bursa Malaysia in the last two weeks, which was a phenomenon this year, and something the market has not seen since March 2014.

In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Research head Zulkifli Hamzah said as of last Friday, investors classified as “foreign” had been net purchasers on Bursa last week for the last eight straight days.

He said foreign funds bought RM411.7 million net in the open market (i.e excluding off-market deals) last week, keeping pace with the RM783.4 million amassed the week before.

He said the week opened on an auspicious note as foreign funds bought RM221.2 million, the tenth highest in a day this year, which refl ected buying momentum from the preceding Friday.

Zulkifli said the intensity eased on Tuesday and the momentum was put on hold by the public holiday and a dip in regional sentiment.

He said that on Friday, foreign funds were still buying, albeit marginally by only RM200,000.

“They were net sellers in Seoul, Jakarta and Manila on the day,” he said.

Zulkifli said that for 2015, last week’s heavy buying reduced further the cumulative net foreign outflow to RM17.1 billion, compared with the RM6.9 billion outflow for the entire 2014.

He said foreign ownership as a percentage of market capitalisation on Bursa was 22.2% at the end of September, the lowest since October 2011.

He said since the 2008 Financial Crisis, the lowest incidence of foreign ownership on Bursa was 20.3%, which was in November 2009.

“It indicates that foreign liquidity in the system is low.

“Despite a holiday-interrupted week, foreign participation rate was maintained at an elevated level.

“The average daily gross volume was RM1.38 billion, higher compared with RM1.35 billion the week before,” he said.

Zulkifli said that for the second consecutive week, local investors

took opportunity of foreign inflow to offload some position. Local institutions sold RM394.3 million on active trading as the week’s average daily volume exceeded RM2.5 billion for the fifth time this year.

“Retail investors sold RM17.4 million, much less compared with RM187.6 million the week before.

“Trading volume remained moderate, averaging RM824 million,” he said.