KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 12): Foreign investors resumed selling on Bursa Malaysia last week, as global political developments resulted in mixed reactions towards equities, according to MIDF Research.
 
Foreigners withdrew a total of RM182.9 million, excluding off market deals from the local stock exchange, which was more than half the amount accumulated in the preceding week, the research unit of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd said in a report.

The investors had before then, sold Malaysian equities for four straight weeks. 

“Monday saw a staggering outflow of RM378.6 million net, the highest in a day since 6 July 2018, as investors cashed in gains ahead of the Deepavali holiday on Tuesday,” MIDF Research analyst Adam M Rahim wrote in the report.

Additionally, investors were wary of U.S. employment data released on Friday (Nov 9), which supported the case for further rate hikes by the Fed, Adam said.

Although the local market observed foreign buying on Wednesday, the outflow continued on Thursday and Friday.

“So far, the month of November has seen a foreign net outflow of RM4.6 million. Meanwhile on a year-to-date basis, foreign investors have sold RM9.9 billion stocks on Bursa,” he said.

“Nevertheless, Malaysia still has the second lowest foreign net outflow amongst the four Asean markets we monitor,” Adam added.

Across Southeast Asian markets, more than half experienced foreign net buying last week.

Globally, equity markets were mixed, amid political developments that included the U.S. mid-term elections and key economic numbers from China.