KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has bucked the trend, albeit negatively, as far as international money flow in equity is concerned.
While global funds made a beeline for Asian equities for the fourth consecutive week, foreign investors became net sellers in Malaysia last week after three weeks of being net buyers.
However, the net amount sold by the foreign investors last week was small at RM61.2 million, MIDF Research said in its weekly fund flow report released yesterday.
“Foreign investors bought relatively strongly on Tuesday, after the Merdeka Day holiday, and continued buying on Wednesday. However sellers overwhelmed buyers in the last two days of the week, with the net amount sold having exceeded RM100 million each day,” it explained.
MIDF Research said on a cumulative basis, foreign investors remained net sellers of Malaysian stocks this year, with the net outflow as of last Friday having increased slightly to RM1.76 billion. Last year, Malaysia reported a net inflow of RM3 billion.
Foreign participation rate turned “elevated” last week, it said, adding that daily average gross purchase and sale rose to above RM1 billion for the first time in five weeks.
In contrast, local participation rate is declining. In the retail market, the average daily gross purchase and sale fell below RM1 billion for the first time in six weeks.
“Retailers remained cautious, having offloaded RM132 million and extending the selldown to 21 consecutive weeks,” it added.
Meanwhile, local institutions’ supported the market, albeit moderately, for the second week running.
They mopped up RM192.9 million last week, MIDF Research noted.