KUALA LUMPUR (April 11): Net foreign purchase on Bursa fell below RM1 billion, after surpassing that level for four weeks running, according to MIDF Research.
In his weekly fund flow report today, MIDF Researh head Zulkifli Hamzah said foreigners bought listed equities amounted to RM439.4 million, compared with an average of RM1.23 billion a week in the preceding four weeks.
He said this was estimated based on transactions in the open market and excluded off market deals.
Zulkifli said the buying was still strong on Monday, as foreigners mopped up RM222 million, the 20th day this year that net foreign purchase had exceeded RM200 million.
“However, foreign appetite for Malaysian stocks tapered significantly thereafter, although there was a strong comeback on Thursday, which turned out to be transient.
“Last week’s foreign purchases boosted the cumulative year-to-date net infl ow to RM5.93 billion, still relatively low compared
with the RM19.5 billion net outflow for the whole of 2015,” he said.
Zulkifli said foreign participation rate fell 16%.
He said the average daily value of shares traded fell below RM1 billion for the first time in six weeks at RM960 million.
Zulkilfi explained that local funds continued to sell amid foreign buying, offloading RM369 million last week, or RM5.6 billion cumulatively during the year-to-date.
He said participation remained elevated, with average volume at RM2.3 billion, the sixth straight week that the number had exceeded RM2 billion.
He said the retail market remained soft as retailers continued to sell. Participation rate was thin, staying below RM600 million for the second straight week at RM580 million.
Zulkifli said last week’s Bank Negara Malaysia data also showed that foreign investors purchased RM11.5 billion of Ringgit debt securities in March.
He said that combined with an estimated RM6.1 billion foreign purchases of equity, the total external portfolio capital which entered the local bond and equity market was RM17.6 billion in March, the highest since April 2011.