KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 — Foreign net outflow on Bursa Malaysia quickened to RM905.9 million net of local equities last week versus RM270.0 million in the preceding week.
MIDF Research, in its fund flow report today, said this was the 22nd consecutive week of foreign net selling.
It said Bursa Malaysia bucked the trend with foreign net outflow on every day of last week.
“As markets reopened on Monday last week, foreign investors disposed of RM77.1 million net of local equities which was the lowest foreign net outflow of the week.
“On Tuesday, the foreign net outflow increased to RM220.2 million and this coincided with the announcement of Malaysia’s unemployment rate which increased to 5.3 per cent in May 2020 from five per cent in April 2020, reflecting the economic fallout from the movement control order, MIDF said.
It said foreign net inflow subsided on Wednesday and Thursday last week at a tune of RM207.3 million and RM132.5 million respectively due to the news of positive progress on the Covid-19 vaccine.
“Nonetheless, foreign investors remained in risk-off mode amidst the surging coronavirus cases globally, deteriorating the US-China relationship, and weaker-than-expected retail sales in China, as well as the detention orders on Top Glove’s shipments by the US Customs Authority,” it said.
However, as Bursa Malaysia reopened on Friday following a trading halt, it experienced the highest foreign net outflow at RM268.7 million.
Nonetheless, the KLCI Index posted its highest one-day gain since June 3 of about 2.0 per cent to 1,596.3 points on the same day, possibly boosted by the strong rebound in the glove counters.
MIDF said so far in 2020, foreign investors have sold RM17.8 billion net on the exchange.
“In comparison with the other six Asian markets we track, Malaysia still has the fourth-smallest foreign net outflow on a year-to-date basis.
“In comparison to another three Asean peers that we tracked last week, Malaysia recorded the highest foreign net outflow while Thailand experienced the least foreign net outflow,” the research house said.
In terms of participation, retail and institutional groups recorded a weekly increase in their Average Daily Traded Value (ADTV) by 21.7 per cent and 18.2 per cent, respectively, while foreign investors experienced the least weekly increase in their ADTV by 6.3 per cent to reach RM1.4 billion, which was above the healthy level of RM1.0 billion. — Bernama
