KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 (NNN-Bernama) — Total foreign funds net outflow from Monday to Thursday this week amounted to RM373.6 million compared to a deficit of RM162.8 million in the same period last week.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said foreign participation during the stipulated time averaged 29.7 per cent against an average of 24.8 per cent in the previous week, while local institution net flows stood at a surplus of RM357.9 million against RM52.8 million previously.
“The local institutional participation rate was at an average of 44.2 per cent vs an average participation of 45.5 per cent rate between April 8-11,” he told Bernama.
Afzanizam said the main event that occurred during the week was news of a possible downgrade of Malaysian bonds from 2 to 1 in the FTSE Russell World Government Bond Index (WGBI).
Malaysia is currently assigned a ‘2’ (highest level of accessibility) on the WGBI and is being considered for a potential downgrade to ‘1’, which would render Malaysia ineligible for inclusion in the WGBI.
“This happened despite China’s first quarter (1Q2019) gross domestic product coming in better-than-expected at 6.4 per cent versus consensus estimates of around six per cent,” he said.
Meanwhile, domestically, Afzanizam said the revival of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) should help restore investors confidence in construction-related stocks, as there will be more jobs for local contractors.
He said it remained to be seen whether next week’s fund flows from foreign investors would be reversed as the FTSE Russell has yet to announce its decision, as the next review will be in September 2019.
“Values have obviously emerged following the sharp fall in share prices listed on Bursa Malaysia and perhaps, there could be bargain hunting happening next week,” he added.
Meanwhile, on the local currency’s performance, FXTM market analyst Han Tan said the recent weakness seen in the ringgit could be due to several factors, including a rising US dollar backed by strong US economic releases and news that Malaysia might be dropped from the FTSE World Government Bond index, as well as from Norway’s sovereign wealth fund’s holdings.
“The selling momentum on the ringgit is likely to subside. Major economic releases out of the US and China, as well as potential headline risks, could also lead to short-term movements for the ringgit versus the greenback within the 4.10-4.15 range,” he said.
On Friday, the ringgit ended 4.1300/1350 against the US dollar from 4.1400/1450 at Thursday’s close.
NNN-BERNAMA
