KUCHING: The apparent increase in aversion towards Malaysian equity has been reaffirmed again by the flow of fund data last week.
MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd’s research arm (MIDF Research) noted that for the second week running, investors classified as ‘foreign’ continued to sell Malaysian equity.
These foreign investors sold a net total of RM197.3 million of Malaysian equity in the open market on Bursa.
“The foreign investors were net buyers lat Wednesday. However they turned sellers in the subsequent two days, with the net amount sold having exceeded RM100 million before briefly turning buyers on Thursday, albeit marginally, before executing their net sell orders totalling nearly RM173 million on Friday,” said analysts from the research house.
On cumulative basis, foreign investors remained net sellers of Malaysian stocks in 2014. The net outflow as of last Friday had increased slightly to RM1.79 billion. In 2013, Malaysia reported a net inflow of RM3 billion.
Foreign participation rate however eased last week with daily average gross purchase and sale declined to RM739 million from the billion level recorded in the prior week.
Similarly, local participation rate is declining while the retail market averages daily gross purchase and sale, fell further to RM896.3 million.
Retailers remained cautious, having offloaded RM34 million, extending the sell down to 22 consecutive weeks.
Meanwhile, local institutions’ supported the market for the third week running, mopping up RM231.5 million last week. Nonetheless, participation increased slightly to RM2.41 billion, from RM2.35 billion the week before.