Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): Foreign investors continue to shun Malaysian equities for the third consecutive week, offloading RM635.8 million worth of shares last week versus RM197.3 million the week before.

It was also the highest outflow since March, said MIDF Research Head Zulkifli Hamzah in his fund flow report Monday.

Zulkifli said foreign investors sold every single day last week, adding that the selldown peaked on Monday, before Bursa closed for Malaysia Day holiday on Tuesday.

On that day, selling intensified to RM225.1 million, the highest since 14 March.

He said it was also the ninth day this year that the net amount offloaded exceeded RM200 million, but less than RM300 million.

“However, we note that the selldown tapered from Wednesday onwards,” he said.

On a cumulative basis, Zulkifli said foreign investors remained net sellers of Malaysian stocks in 2014, and the net outflow as of last Friday had increased to RM2.6 billion.

In 2013, Malaysia reported a net inflow of RM3.0 billion.

Zulkifli said foreign participation rate was “elevated” last week, explaining the daily average gross purchase and sale that surged to RM1.22 billion, marking the highest in seven weeks.

In contrast, he said local participation rate declined, partly attributable to the school holiday.

He said in the retail segment, the average daily gross purchase and sale fell further to RM832 million, the lowest in 12 weeks.

“However, retailers started bargain hunting, as they were net buyers for the first time in 23 weeks, buying a marginal RM19.2 million.

“Local institutions supported the market strongly last week, buying RM616.6 million on slightly lower but still elevated participation of RM2.0 billion,” he said.

Commenting on the region, Zulkifli said sentiment towards Asian equity remained dampened for the second consecutive week as global funds made an exit.

He said this reflected heightened risks pertaining to the timing of the normalisation of interest rates in the U.S.

Zulkifli said the rate of outflow from Taiwan and Korea accelerated last week.

“In Korea, the won depreciated to its lowest since April after the government announced record spending next year to support the economy. In Taiwan, global investors turned cautious over the electronics sector, as a result of the correction on Nasdaq.

“In Emerging Asia, there was heavy exit from Indonesia, where the exchange reported the biggest outflow in a week so far this year,” he said.
 

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