KUALA LUMPUR: Offshore investors continued to enter Bursa Malaysia for the second week, acquiring RM69.9 million net of local equities during the holiday-shortened last week compared to RM68.7 million net bought in the week before.
In 2019, international funds were net buyers for a total of 18 weeks.
“With two more trading days before the month of December ends, the month has so far seen a foreign net outflow of RM1.06 billion,” MIDF Research said in its weekly fund flow report today.
It said 2019 was set to be another year of foreign net outflow for Malaysia with the year-to-date foreign net outflow as of last Friday standing at RM10.99 billion, lower than last year’s total foreign net outflow of RM11.69 billion.
In terms of participation during the festive week, foreign investors experienced sharpest decline in average daily traded value (ADTV) among the other investor groups, dropping 61.4 per cent to reach below the RM1 billion mark at RM489.5 million.
The eve of Christmas saw foreign investors retreating to the sidelines as they disposed of local equities at a tune of RM19.6million net, dragging the local bourse by 0.6 per cent to settle at 1,604.2 points.
“As markets reopened on Thursday, international funds continued to reduce exposure in local equities but at a very slow pace of only -RM1.8 million net.
“The reduction in foreign net selling was due to the news that the U.S and China will have a signing ceremony to commemorate the first phase of the US-China trade deal agreed this month,” MIDF Research said.
It added that the international funds later turned net buyers on Friday, snapping up RM16.6 million net of local equities following the rally in local plantation stocks in line with the rise in crude palm oil price.