Foreign funds snap up Malaysian shares

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds continued to be positive about Malaysian equities and they were net buyers at RM107.7mil in the week ended April 4, says MIDF Equities Research.

It said on Monday the foreign funds snapped up RM255.80mil on March 31, which was the last day of the first quarter, before taking profit in the last three trading days.

"After pumping in a massive RM832.7mil in the trading week ended March 28, foreign funds bought a more sedate RM107.7m of Malaysian equity last week. Foreign funds have not bought for two consecutive weeks since October 2013," it said.

MIDF Research said foreign participation rate spiked last week as average daily foreign participation rate (average daily gross purchase and sale) surged to RM1.33bil, the highest since August last year.

"Trading on the local market is unmistakably retail-driven currently. Retail investors have featured prominently in the local scene over the last two weeks.

"Although they were net sellers to the tune of RM77.2mil last week, their participation rate was noticeably strong. Daily participation averaged surged above RM1bil at RM1.04bil. It was only the third week this year that the numbers had exceeded the RM1bil mark," it said.

The research house said local institutions offloaded a marginal RM30.5mil last week, on active participation. Average daily participation averaged RM2.7bil, the 13th week in a row that participation exceeded the RM2bil mark.