KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — Malaysia was not a benefactor from the recent turbulence on Wall Street sent ripples across global markets, with MIDF Amanah reporting that the country also saw a significant outflow of foreign investments.
In its weekly report today, it said foreign investors disposed of a net RM768.4 million in equities on Bursa Malaysia throughout the past week, marking a period of sustained selling pressure.
Every trading day saw net selling by foreign investors, with Monday and Thursday experiencing the most significant outflows, amounting to RM336.1 million and RM226.7 million, respectively.
Sectors that bore the brunt of the foreign sell-off were consumer products & services, with net outflows reaching RM151.8 million, property (-RM149.5 million), and technology (-RM120 million), which was previously an investor darling.
Despite the overall bearish sentiment among foreign investors, sectors such telecommunication & media, healthcare, and plantation showed some resilience, but even this was muted.
The capital flight was offset by local institutions taking advantage of the situation to pick up Malaysian assets at a discount. They accumulated a net RM1.19 billion in equities over the week, with net buying recorded every day.
Retail investors did not follow suit, however, and offloaded a net RM424.6 million in equities throughout the week.
A perfect storm of rising interest rates in Japan, lowered earnings from diminishing optimism towards artificial intelligence (AI), and signs of a possible recession in the US caused a massive global selloff last week that exceeded that of the 1987 Black Monday crash.
