By SHAZNI ONG / pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

International funds turned net sellers on the local bourse last week, snapping the five-week buying spree, according to figures tracked by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd.

Foreign funds sold RM369.2 million net worth of equities, the largest weekly foreign outflow in eight weeks.

“On a daily basis, the five-day foreign net buying streak came to an end on Monday (last week) as global funds sold RM41.6 million net of local equities,” said analyst Adam M Rahim.

“However, foreign investors slowly returned to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday (last week) at a tune of RM6.6 million net, the lowest level in a day since early November last year,” he said in his weekly fund flow report.

Adam said, however, RM122.1 million net of equities were taken out by foreign funds last Wednesday as investors ignored US President Donald Trump’s flexibility on the deadline for trade negotiations with Beijing.

“Likewise, the local bourse shed 2.11 points or 0.1% to end at 1,685 points, the lowest close during the week,” he said.

Meanwhile, Adam said other Asian peers, namely South Korea and Taiwan, recorded sizeable foreign net inflows.

“While foreign net selling still occurred on Thursday and Friday (last week), the pace slowed down to RM106.4 million and RM105.7 million respectively.

“Malaysia’s 4Q18 GDP growth of 4.7% year-on-year (YoY), which was above market expectations of 4.5% YoY, helped ease the jitters coming from the deceleration in China’s factory inflation in January 2019 that slowed down for the seventh uninterrupted month,” he said.

Adam said for the first half of February 2019, offshore investors disposed of RM206 million net, lowering the year-to-date (YTD) foreign net inflow into Malaysia to RM820.1 million.

“On the regional front, Malaysia is now the nation with the lowest foreign net inflow among the four Asean markets we monitor, with Indonesia taking the lead with a YTD net inflow above RM3 billion, while Thailand is the only one with a net outflow,” he said.

Adam also said participation among all investor groups increased during the week.

“Foreign investors recorded the smallest weekly advance in average daily traded value, increasing by 15.3% to breach above the healthy level of RM1 billion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd which registered RM22.11 million last week was among the stocks that posted the highest net money inflows. This was followed by Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd at RM12.17 million and Hartalega Holdings Bhd at RM5.73 million.

Stocks that registered the highest net money outflows were Public Bank Bhd, which saw a net outflow of RM34.39 million, followed by Genting Bhd at RM17.06 million and CIMB Group Holdings Bhd at RM8.94 million.