KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — The pace of foreign net selling slowed down last week as foreign investors disposed of RM376.5 million net of local equities versus the RM490.3 million net the week before.

For April 2021, Bursa Malaysia saw foreign investors withdrawing RM1.1 billion net compared to just RM33.6 million of local equities disposed of in the previous month, said Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim.

“On a year-to-date basis, Malaysia recorded a foreign net outflow of RM2.9 billion or US$704.9 million net, which is lesser than its Asean peers, namely Thailand and the Philippines,” he told Bernama.

Breaking down the foreign net selling for the public holiday-shortened week, he said the local bourse began the week on a positive note as international investors scooped up RM150.0 million net of local equities on Monday as strong United States’ (US) new home sales data boosted risk appetite.

US new home sales rebounded sharply in March to the highest since 2006, suggesting that the housing market is back on track after winter storms impeded demand in February.

However, Adam said the foreign net inflow on Bursa Malaysia was short-lived as foreign investors dumped RM229.6 million net of local equities on Tuesday.

Most investors had moved to the sidelines as they awaited the outcome of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

“Foreign net selling continued on Wednesday, but at a slower pace of RM80.0 million net as the Asian Development Bank is expecting the gross domestic product (GDP) for developing Asian economies to grow by 7.3 per cent this year, better than the 6.8 per cent forecast in December.

“This had somewhat helped to cushion the jitters due to the rising daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia which exceeded the 3,000 mark for the first time since February 24 on Wednesday,” he explained.

The market was closed on Thursday for Nuzul Al-Quran public holiday.

On Friday, the market resumed trading on a sombre note, with offshore investors disposing of RM216.9 million net of local equities.

He said sentiments remained weak despite the US recording a 6.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter GDP growth in the first quarter of 2021, which pushed the S&P 500 index to an all-time high on Thursday.

He added that the sentiments were affected by the more-than-expected decline in China’s official gauge of factory activity in April — albeit remaining in expansion territory — as both production and new orders retreated. — Bernama