KUALA LUMPUR: Foreigners remained net sellers in the local stock market last week but the pace had slowed amid support from local funds.
MIDF Research said local equities had been subjected to heavy foreign money attrition, particularly since the United States election.
However, the outflow from Malaysia equities was less evident than in most other Asian markets, it said.
Foreign investors sold a net RM780.5 million in the open market last week, an increase from RM493.3 million in the previous week.
Despite the foreign investors cashing out, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was quite well supported last week.
The index closed 2.52 points higher on Friday at 1,628.96 points.
VCB Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Mohammad Amir Mokhtar said the index was supported by local funds despite the foreign selling.
“There will be profit-taking this week, but we expect the index to be supported by window-dressing activities by local funds,” he told Business Times yesterday.
Meanwhile, MIDF, in its weekly fund flow report, said there was a spike of RM487.6 million last Wednesday.
The research firm said the attrition level ranged between -RM150 million and -RM30 million with the lowest recorded on Thursday at
-RM36.2 million.
“On a cumulative year-to-date, the amount of net-selling from foreigners has fallen from a peak of RM6.47 billion in April to a deficit of RM2.2 billion.”
However, it said compared to last year, the outflow amount was still considered low as only RM8.6 billion had been redeemed since April, compared to a net outflow of RM19.5 billion last year, it added.
MIDF said retail investors continued to be net investors in the local bourse with RM476.7 million last month, maintaining its level in October.
“However, the buying on dips conviction fell last week to RM37.9 million,” said the firm.