KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 (NNN-BERNAMA) — After eight consecutive weeks of net outflows, the local equity market has rebounded as foreign investors turned net buyers on Bursa Malaysia, acquiring RM115.2 million net of local equities last week compared to RM190.1 million disposed in the preceding week.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the local bourse started the week on a negative note as offshore investors sold RM104.1 million net of local equities last Monday on the back of cautious trading ahead of the United States (US) presidential election the next day.
Foreign net selling rose to RM134.1 million on Tuesday due to US election jitters.
“Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision to keep the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged at 1.75 per cent is good for the banking sector and was within market expectations.
“BNM’s latest move also indicates that the central bank is expecting a recovery, moving forward; barring any unforeseen circumstances from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he noted.
Adam said foreign net selling slowed down on Wednesday, declining to RM27.7 million.
“Investors probably moved to the sidelines awaiting the results from the US presidential election.
“At the same time, Donald Trump made a bold statement, claiming that he has won the election before the polls were finalised,” he said.
Adam added that international investors then took a breather from selling activities by snapping up RM140 million net of local equities on Thursday — the first daily net inflow seen after six trading days as Joe Biden’s lead in the polls boosted market optimism.
Friday saw a further net inflow of RM240.5 million on the back of the Budget 2021 announcement, which is seen to be expansionary in light of an expected recovery next year.
“This was more than enough to offset the lower chance of a sizeable stimulus being passed at the US Congress due to a diminishing odd of a so-called “blue wave” (a Democratic Party sweep of both Congress and the White House),” he said.
He added that the local bourse followed suit to close at a three-week high of 1,519.6 points on Friday.
Meanwhile, on a year-to-date basis, foreign investors’ net selling of equities on Bursa Malaysia has reached RM22.88 billion, while net buying by retailers and institutions amounted to RM11.69 billion and RM10.82 billion, respectively, said MIDF Research in a note today.
Public Bank registered the highest net money inflow at RM10.60 million last week, followed by Maybank at RM8.25 million and Genting at RM5.25 million.
The research house noted that in comparison to another three Southeast Asian markets that it tracked last week, Indonesia recorded the most foreign net inflow, while Thailand experienced the biggest outflow.
— NNN-BERNAMA
