Foreign selling on Bursa slows to RM190.04m

PETALING JAYA: Foreign investor was net seller last week but at a slower pace of RM190.04 million, the second week which the pace of the outflow had slowed.

“Cumulatively for October, foreign investor was a net seller to the tune of RM669.52 million,“ MIDF Research said in its fund flow report today.

As market reopened on Monday last week, foreign investors bought RM89.80 million net of local equities, with retailers and local institutions as net sellers at RM27.19 million and RM62.61 million respectively.

However, this inflow was negated as the week went by, with net selling gaining momentum, with external markets influencing investors’ decisions. The largest outflow was on Friday at RM279.83 million and smallest outflow was on Wednesday at RM118.78 million.

“So far in 2020, foreign investors net selling has reached RM23.0 billion worth of equities on Bursa. In comparison to another three South East Asian markets that we tracked last week, Indonesia recorded the least foreign net outflow while Thailand experienced the biggest outflow compare to the others.”

In terms of retail participation, last week saw retailer turned net buyer with RM106.43 million worth of equities last week, while local institutions net bought RM83.61 million during the same period. Last week also marks the reversal to the net buy after slight pause in momentum two weeks ago. This was the third week where there was stronger net buying from retailers after three consecutive weeks as net sellers previously.

“This is a potential signal for the return of buying appetite for retailers with bargain hunting activities, renewed interest in glove stocks with the surge in Covid-19 cases against a volatile Malaysian political backdrop,“ said MIDF.

Net buying amounted to RM11.66 billion came from retailers thus far in 2020, while institution bought to the tune of RM10.96 billion.

In terms of participation, the retail investors recorded a weekly decrease of 27.64% in average daily trade value (ADTV) while the foreign investor experienced decrease of ADTV of 11.91% and local institution at ADTV of 19.92%.