FOREIGN SELLING NARROWS TO RM331.04 MLN

By Sharifah Pirdaus Syed Ali

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 -- Foreign investors continued to remain as net sellers this week, however, the total net outflow narrowed to RM331.04 million from RM444.92 million last week.

From June 29-July 2, average foreign participation declined to 15.5 per cent versus 16.3 per cent previously.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said during the period, net selling by local retail stood at RM39.7 million with an average participation of 36.49 per cent versus a net buy of RM266.93 million the previous week.

Meanwhile, net buys by local institution rose to RM370.75 million with an average participation of 48.02 per cent from RM177.98 million in previous week.

Mohd Afzanizam said foreign net selling took a slight breather at the beginning of the week as offshore funds only offloaded RM12.7 million net of local equities on Monday.

“The slowdown in selling activity coincided with the FBM KLCI’s 0.5 per cent rebound on the same day, amidst renewed interest in glove and healthcare counters,” he told Bernama.

However, foreign net selling rose to RM79.2 million on Tuesday, bringing total foreign net outflow in June 2020 to RM2.98 billion.

Mohd Afzanizam said July had started on a sluggish note as international funds upped the ante in selling activity on Wednesday, disposing of RM142.1 million net of local equities, the highest for the week.

Nevertheless, he said local institutions were actively buying local equities to the tune of RM180.9 million on the same day, following the jump in Malaysia’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which rose to 51 in June -- the highest level since September 2018 -- from 45.6 in May. 

On Thursday, foreign net selling inched lower to RM97.0 million, extending the selling streak to 12 consecutive days.

“The upbeat sentiment on Thursday -- which capped foreign net outflows -- was spurred by hopes stemming from the positive trial result of Pfizer and BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine candidate,” Mohd Afzanizam said.

He said compared to ASEAN peers -- namely Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines -- Malaysia has the second-highest foreign net outflow at RM16.52 billion after Thailand on a year-to-date basis.

-- BERNAMA