Foreign selling of Malaysian equities is likely to continue until the end of this year with the week just-ended recording net outflow of RM160 million, analysts say. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign selling of Malaysian equities is likely to continue until the end of this year with the week just-ended recording net outflow of RM160 million, says Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd head Of Research Pong Teng Siew.
Despite constant foreign nett inflow, seen in recent months, he said selling activities outweighed buying activities, with the total value fleeing from Malaysia, since the second week of February 2011 todate, amounting to RM11.9 billion.
“Foreign outflow became obvious from May 2013 onwards as foreign institutional funds were selling due to concerns surrounding emerging markets in general, including Indonesia and Brazil, and the scenario was not unique to Malaysia,” he told Bernama.
Pong noted that foreign selling accelerated in 2015 and some parts of 2016 due to crude oil prices which hit bottom in 2016.
Pressuring the market further was concerns over emerging economies, and this saw foreign funds withdraw from emerging markets. For the first half of November 2018, we saw some light, but in the second half of the month, the mood turned sombre,” he said, adding that foreign selling of Malaysian equities stood at RM52.3 million in the previous week.
“When oil prices began to rebound, some funds started to flow in, but it was relatively small when compared to the selling trend. At the moment, emerging markets remain unattractive for foreign funds.,” he said.
On the local front, Khazanah Nasional Bhd is selling 16 per cent of its stake in IHH Healthcare Bhd to Mitsui & Co Ltd (Mitsui) of Japan for RM8.42 billion.
Following the divestment, Khazanah’s shareholding in IHH will decrease to 26.05 per cent, while Mitsui will be the largest shareholder in Asia’s largest private hospital group with a 32.9 per cent stake.
Khazanah managing director Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan commented that the divestment was part of its strategy to grow the business that they had invested in and to find the appropriate time and value to create liquidity for future capital and investment needs.
Commenting on the divestment, Hermana Capital Bhd director Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said it was a normal rationalisation exercise for Khazanah, to restructure their portfolio and focus on their main businesses.
Meanwhile, the Entrepreneur Development Ministry dismissed Tan Sri Shukry Mohd Salleh as the chairman of Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd last week.
Shukry’s dismissal is believed to due to his involvement in 1 Malaysian Development Bhd’s original audit report.
Meanwhile, on the local currency’s performance for the week just-ended, Nazri said the ringgit was strengthening, driven by unexpected comments by the Federal Reserve (Fed) that it will not raise US interest rate as frequently as expected in 2019, which is a good sign for emerging currencies.
“It will give some positive momentum to the ringgit which was also supported by higher oil prices,” he said.
Another analyst, Oanda head of Trading for Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes expected the ringgit to trade between 4.17 and 4.20 next week. — Bernama