Foreign Funds Continue Pumping Liquidity into M'sian Stocks

Foreign Funds Continue Pumping Liquidity into M'sian Stocks - Foreign buying momentum continued for the fourth consecutive week on Bursa Malaysia although the level seems to be gradually decreasing, according to MIDF Research.

In its weekly fund flow report, MIDF said based on preliminary data from Bursa which excluded off market deals, international investors acquired RM702.2mil net of local equities last week, lower than the RM772.2mil net bought in the week before.

Last week, foreign investors were net buyers on all five trading days.

“Foreign buying peaked on Tuesday as foreign investors pumped in RM227.2mil net of funds, tracking gains from Asian markets such as the Kospi which gained 0.72% and attracted the highest amount of funds during the week at US$307.4mil net.

“Moreover, oil prices stood firm at US$69.15 per barrel despite retreating from its December 2014 high of US$70.26 a barrel,” it said.

However, on Wednesday, there was a big dip in buying activity as the net inflow retreated to RM37.50mil net, the lowest in a day since Dec 26, 2017.

“We note that on this day, Malaysia bucked the trend as other regional peers, namely Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines experienced an increase in foreign inflows,” MIDF said.

Nonetheless, foreign buying regained its momentum on the next two days, hovering above the RM100mil mark.

The highlight was on Friday, when fears of a U.S government shutdown were looming, but foreign investors still bought RM111.3mil net on that day which coincided with the Bursa’s highest daily gain in nine days of 0.40% combined with the Ringgit hitting the strongest since May 2016 as markets priced in a probability of a rate hike by the Monetary Policy Committee this week.

Foreign participation remained active as the foreign average daily trade value (ADTV) stood above the RM1bil mark for the third week running despite a 20% weekly decline.

The retail ADTV also remained elevated at RM1.76bil, marking the fourth week above the RM1bil level.

Last week, Tenaga Nasional Bhd registered the highest net money inflow of RM13.35mil.

Felda Global Ventures

Bhd recorded the second highest net money infloow of RM5.39mil while Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd sae the third highest net money inflow of RM4.96mil.

On the other hand,  Petronas Chemicals saw the largest net money outflow of RM28.57m last week.

Petronas Dagangan recorded the second largest net money outflow of RM23.34m and Nestle (M) Bhd registered the third largest net money outflow of RM10.09mil last week.