KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — Foreign investors only sold RM190.1 million net of local equities last week compared to RM214.3 million in the preceding week.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the week began on a rather optimistic note as international investors snapped up RM89.8 million net of local equities today.
“The return of foreign investors into the Malaysian market on Monday came about as the government’s bid to declare a state of emergency to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic did not go through,” he told Bernama.
On the external front, it was reported that Astra Zeneca’s vaccine candidate produced a robust immune response in elderly people.
International investors upped the ante on buying activity on Tuesday as they acquired RM118.8 million net of local equities.
The risk-on sentiment on that day was mainly fuelled by South Korea’s fastest exports growth in decades led a stronger-than-expected rebound from its pandemic-triggered recession, signalling a pickup in global trade amid rising virus waves in key markets.
“This helped offset jitters from the biggest drop in a month seen for the S&P 500 index overnight amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in the US,” he said.
Tables were turned on Wednesday as offshore investors dumped RM118.8 million net of local equities, wiping out what was bought the previous day.
Adam said international investors moved to the sidelines as hopes for a pre-election stimulus in the US faded, with President Donald Trump blaming White House speaker Nancy Pelosi for the delay.
Aside from that, the increasing number of coronavirus infections in Europe was hampering sentiment.
“Friday turned out to be a blood bath on Bursa Malaysia as foreign investors withdrew RM279.9 million net of local equities as the overall sentiment became increasingly cautious ahead of the US presidential elections this week,” he said.
In fact this was the largest daily foreign net outflow in a month.
The local bourse followed suit to close 1.89 per cent lower at 1,466.9 points, a level not seen since the end of May this year.
The month of October recorded a foreign net outflow of RM668.7 million net, marking the 16th consecutive month of foreign net selling on Bursa Malaysia.
“Nevertheless, the foreign net outflow for October was the second lowest recorded so far in 2020.
“This brings the year-to-date foreign net outflow from Malaysia to RM22.97 billion,” Adam said.
In terms of participation, he said the average daily traded value of foreign investors remained strong, recording above the RM1.0 billion mark for the past 18 weeks. — Bernama
