KUALA LUMPUR (May 27): Foreign selling of Malaysian equities slowed down to RM382.6 million last week from RM1.18 billion 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 Tuesday, which was the first trading day of the week, recorded a moderate foreign net outflow of RM74.2 million net, the lowest in 10 trading days.
“In comparison with other regional peers, the level of foreign net selling on Tuesday on Bursa was lower than Indonesia and Taiwan amidst jitters caused by President Trump’s crackdown on Huawei Technologies Inc.
“The level of foreign net outflows later swelled to RM178.7 million net on Thursday while the local stock barometer slipped 0.1% to close at 1,602 points as the latest US Federal Reserve minutes indicated that the rate cut which markets are expecting by year end may not necessarily materialise,” he said.
Adam said that in addition, sentiment on that day was weighed down by reports of the US government considering more bans on several Chinese technology companies.
“Nevertheless, the pace of foreign investors exiting Bursa took a slight breather on Friday as only RM129.6 million net of local equities were disposed of.
“Threats from the US to impose duties on nations which undervalue their currencies against the greenback kept the foreign net selling activity from going down below RM100 million,” he said.
Adam said with a week left before the month of May ends, Malaysia has recorded a foreign net outflow of RM2.09 billion for the month.
He said this brings the year-to-date foreign net outflow from Malaysia to RM4.85 billion.
“Thailand is also another market with a year-to-date foreign net outflow of US$741.7 million or approximately RM3.10 billion.
“Foreign investors were the only investor group which saw an increase in participation during the week,” he said.
Adam said the average daily traded value (ADTV) of foreign investors surged by 20.5% to RM1.46 billion, a level not observed in 10 weeks.