Bursa Malaysia Records RM1.5 Bln Net Foreign Outflow YTD

KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 (Bernama) – With three trading days left before March ends, the month has so far seen a foreign net inflow of RM185.5 million, while year-to-date (YTD), Bursa Malaysia has recorded a foreign net outflow of RM1.5 billion in 2021. This compared favourably with the RM7.6 billion in foreign net inflow recorded during the first quarter of 2020 (Q1 2020), Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said. “During Q1 2020, the market was badly impacted due to the movement control order (MCO) compared to now whereby the government has eased the MCO restrictions,” he told Bernama. For last week, he said foreign investors sold RM239.8 million net of local equities compared to RM101.2 million net sold in the previous week. He said international investors began the week by disposing of RM28.9 million net of local equities on Monday as investors were assessing the impact of the Turkish lira’s decline on risk sentiment. Following that, foreign net selling on Bursa Malaysia then ballooned to RM214.0 million on Tuesday to a level not seen since late January this year, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan replaced the country’s central bank chief. The Turkish lira plunged as much as 15.0 per cent. Besides that, Adam said much of Tuesday’s appetite was partly influenced by the move by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to impose a hard lockdown over Easter to try to reverse a third wave of COVID-19 infections fuelled by faster-spreading mutations. “Apart from that, the United States, United Kingdom and Canada joined the European Union (EU) to impose sanctions against China over alleged human rights abuses on the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Beijing retaliated by saying that it would sanction 10 individuals and four entities on the EU side,” he said. Meanwhile, Wednesday saw foreign investors making a modest comeback to the bourse to the tune of RM5.6 million net. However, the foreign net inflow was short-lived as international funds turned net sellers on Thursday after selling RM48.4 million net of local equities. Adam said the oil markets faced pressure on Thursday as traders monitored efforts to dislodge a massive ship blocking the Suez Canal, causing a supply chain bottleneck for container ships and oil tankers. On Friday, the international investors made second return after acquiring RM45.9 million net of local equities the expected global economic recovery became the focal point among investors. This came about as the US Labour Department data showed claims for unemployment benefits which dropped to a one-year low in the preceding week, indicating that the US economy is on the pathway to better economic growth. Echoing with the theme of economic recovery, many banking counters under the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index saw gains on Friday, pushing the local bourse higher to close at 1,601.4 points, he said. -- BERNAMA