Foreign funds sell RM415.3mil of Malaysian shares

(The Star) – Offshore investors were back in selling mode on Bursa last week, according to MIDF Research.

“Based on data from Bursa, foreign funds dumped RM415.3mil net of local equities last week, cancelling off the RM350mil net acquired in the preceding week,” it said in its weekly fund flow report.

MIDF noted that President Trump’s suspension plans on punitive tariffs on goods from Mexico mainly spurred risk-on mood on Bursa, attracting RM59mil net of foreign inflows on Monday.

Apart from that, the anticipation of economic stimulus from the U.S Fed also lent support to investors’ appetite.

“As such, the foreign net buying streak was stretched to six days, the longest since nine-day selling spree observed from the middle to the end of January 2019,” it added.

The local bourse followed suit to advance 0.4% higher to settle at 1,655 points on the same day, the highest since March 22.

Nevertheless, it was a chaotic Tuesday as international funds offloaded RM101.5mil net of local equities, dragging the FBM KLCI by 0.3% to reach 1,651.2 points.

The mood turned sombre as President Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China again if President Xi Jinping does not attend the G-20 summit at the end of this month.

“The foreign net outflow continued on Wednesday to reach RM143.2mil net partially caused by the protests in Hong Kong against the proposed law allowing its citizens to be extradited in China,” MIDF said, adding that there were signs of relief on Thursday as foreign net selling receded below RM100mil to RM23.3mil.

However, this was short lived as foreign investors dumped RM206.2mil net on Friday amidst jitters caused by; the industrial output of China which slowed down to the weakest in 17 years and the attack on two oil tankers in the Middle East in the gulf of Oman.

“With two more weeks of trading left in June 2019, foreign investors have so far disposed RM65.3mil net. On a year-to-date basis, the foreign net outflow from Malaysia stands at RM4.86bil,” MIDF said.

“Average daily traded value (ADTV) of all investor groups (retail, institution and foreign) increased for the week as the majority returned back from the festive holidays,” it added.