Business

Published: Monday December 31, 2012 MYT 10:41:00 AM
Updated: Monday December 31, 2012 MYT 11:29:45 AM

Foreign funds bought more than RM13.5b of Malaysian equities in 2012


KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign funds bought more than RM13.50bil of Malaysian equities in 2012, which was 7.1 times the net inflow of RM1.9bil in 2011, according to MIDF Equities Research.

The research house said since January 2010, cumulative net purchase of Bursa Malaysia-listed shares by foreigners stayed above the RM30bil mark at RM30.8bil.

It also estimated foreign investors remained net buyers of Malaysian equities for the third straight week ended Dec 28. It should be noted the FBM KLCI closed at an all-time high of 1,681.33.

"On a net basis, foreign investors bought RM150.7mil (of equities) in the open market, surprisingly higher than the RM99.8mil purchased the week before, considering the fact that it was a Christmas week," it said.

MIDF Research said foreign funds were net buyers on every trading day last week despite that overall trading volume was extremely low.

"The rate of participation (average daily gross purchase and sale) was only RM508mil, the third lowest this year and a sharp drop compared with RM982mil the week before," it said.

The research house said local investors continued to withdraw from the market which saw retailers continuing to be net sellers for the fourth consecutive week, offloading RM46mil of equities.

As for participation rate, it was low and averaged less than RM500mil a day for the fourth week running at only RM451mil.

"Local institutions also continued to sell, clearing RM105mil. Daily average participation rate plunged to RM1.01bil among the lowest this year. For 2012, local institutions sold, on aggregate net basis, RM9.52bil of equity," it said.

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