PETALING JAYA: Bursa Malaysia saw foreign fund inflows for the second consecutive week with RM350 million net of local equities mopped up by foreign funds despite the shorter week due to two days of Hari Raya Aidilfitri break.
MIDF Research said the week started off on the right foot as international investors acquired RM231.5 million net of local equities on Monday, marking the second day of foreign net inflows above RM200 million.
“The strong momentum of foreign net buying lifted the FBM KLCI by 0.2% to settle at 1,655 points on the same day, the highest close seen since March 22. Much of the optimism on Monday was mainly attributable to the recently concluded corporate earnings season which had a lot of positive surprises.”
Bursa’s foreign buying momentum continued on Tuesday, the day before the holidays as foreign funds bought RM96.8 million net of local stocks.
The local bourse reopened after a two-day break on Friday, which saw international funds acquire local equities at a slower pace to the tune of RM21.8 million net.
MIDF said with the RM350 million foreign net inflow reported for the first week of June, Malaysia has pared down the year-to-date foreign net outflow to RM4.45 billion from RM4.8 billion in the preceding week.
The research house noted that the drop in investor participation for the retail market, foreign investors and local institutional funds during the holiday-shortened week was inevitable.
“Nevertheless, the average daily trading value (ADTV) for foreign investors remained healthy at above RM1 billion despite the 54% weekly decline in the ADTV. Only the retail market had a substantially low weekly ADTV of below RM500m, the lowest so far for the year.”
MIDF added that Malaysia’s foreign inflow for the week conforms with the majority of six other Asian market that it monitor with the exception of South Korea and the Philippines.
