Foreign investors ramp up selling on Bursa to RM834.6mil net

KUALA LUMPUR: Offshore funds accelerated their selling of equities on Bursa Malaysia last week to RM834.6mil, said MIDF research.

It represented the fifth consecutive week of net foreign selling on the stock exchange and the highest weekly foreign net outflow in 17 weeks.

“In terms of participation, foreign investors saw a huge drop in average daily traded value (ADTV) by 49.4% to reach below RM861.0m,the lowest in six weeks,” it added.

Foreign net outflow year to date has reached RM10.76bil, which constitutes 92% of last year’s total foreign outflow of RM11.69bil.

Investors were net sellers on every day of the past week owing to developments on the global trade scene, especially with regard to the US-China trade war.

MIDF reported that foreign net selling was RM23.4mil on Monday, a low figure was investor sentiment was lifted by better-than-expected manufacturing data from China.

However, things took a turn on Tuesday after the US’s proposal to impose a US$2.4bil tariff on Frech products triggered a sharp rise in foreign selling, bringing the day’s net sales of local equities to RM260.6mil.

This selling was exacerbated on Wednesday when US President Donald Trump suggested that he might use tariffs as a source of international economic leverage for the 2020 presidential eleection. Net foreign selling spiked to to RM346.7mil.

Foreign investors slowed their selling momentum to the tune of RM88.3mil net equities sold on Thursday as the US and China moved closer to agreeing on the amount of tariffs to be rolled back in a phase-one trade deal.

On Friday, China’s move to waive retaliatory tariffs on imports of US pork and soy by domestic companies was well received by investors. The pace of foreign selling on the local stock exchange slowed further to RM80.4mil net.

Counters on Bursa Malaysia that saw the highest net money outflows were United Plantations Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Public Bank.

In contrast, CIMB Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings and Tenaga Nasional saw the highest net money inflows for the week.

Source: TheStar