KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): Foreign selling of local equities on Bursa Malaysia slowed to RM214.4 million last week, from RM237.09 million the prior week, said MIDF Research.

In its weekly fund flow report today, MIDF said that cumulatively for October, foreign investors were net sellers to the tune of RM479.5 billion.

“As the market reopened on Monday last week, foreign investors bought RM101.58 million net of local equities, with retailers and local institutions as net sellers and net buyers at RM210,000 and RM101.38 million respectively.

“However, this inflow was negated as the week went by, with net selling gaining momentum and external markets influencing investors’ decisions, “ it said.

MIDF said negotiations over further stimulus in the US continued without any agreement reached.

“So far in 2020, foreign investors' net selling has reached RM22.81 billion worth of equities on Bursa.

“In comparison to another three Southeast Asian markets that we tracked last week, Malaysia recorded the least foreign net outflow, while Indonesia experienced the biggest outflow compared to the others,” it said.

MIDF said in terms of retail participation, last week saw retailers turned net buyers with RM446.5 million worth of equities, while local institutions net sold RM232.1 million during the same period.

“We believe that this suggests that retailers' interest is starting to return.

“Last week also marked a reversal to net selling after four consecutive weeks of local institutions as net buyers on Bursa,” it said.

MIDF said it was the second week where there was stronger net buying by retailers after three consecutive weeks as net sellers previously. It began last Tuesday with net buying of RM180.86 million and was carried on for the rest of the week.

“This is a potential signal of the return of buying appetite for retailers with bargain-hunting activities and renewed interest in glove stocks with the [recent] surge in [new] Covid-19 cases against a volatile Malaysian political backdrop.

“Net buying amounted to RM11.6 billion came from retailers thus far in 2020, while institutions bought to the tune of RM10.9 billion,” it said.