Bursa CEO: Foreign investors returning

by **Cals** Sat 11 Apr 2015, 04:02

Bursa CEO: Foreign investors returning

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By Ahmad Naqib Idris / The Edge Financial Daily | April 10, 2015 : 10:06 AM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign investors have been returning to the local bourse over the past two weeks, [size=14]Bursa Malaysia Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Financial Dashboard) chief executive officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan said. This is despite the dampened market sentiment in the beginning of the year.

He said market sentiment was seen to be slower in the first two months of 2015, despite higher retail participation of 26% in 2014, compared with 22% in 2013.

“However, we are seeing good traction over the last two weeks. The foreign investors are back, and the index (FBM KLCI) is coming up. I’m still hopeful,” he told reporters after launching the exchange’s BursaMKTPLC CELEB.TRADR initiative yesterday.

In his latest foreign fund flow report, MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd research head Zulkifli Hamzah said foreign funds have been quietly rebuilding their portfolios of Malaysian equity, with foreign investors as net buyers in the open market over the past three weeks.

He added that foreign investors bought a total of RM203.8 million in equities for the week of March 30 to April 3, which he deemed as “not insignificant”.

“Most of the purchases came early in the week. On Tuesday (March 31), the net purchase amount was RM263.4 million, only the fifth day this year that the RM200 million mark had been broken. There was marginal selling on Wednesday (April 1) and Thursday (April 2), but the buying resumed on Friday (April 3),” he said.

Earlier, Bursa Malaysia launched the BursaMKTPLC CELEB.TRADR educational programme aimed at introducing investing and trading skills to the younger generation.

Tajuddin said the programme aims to encourage millennials or Generation Y to invest in stocks.

“We are continually creating new opportunities to educate experienced or beginner investors on how to use the [many] tradable ideas available on BursaMarketplace — insights, resources and content that were not previously accessible to all retail investors,” said Tajuddin.

Under the programme, Bursa Malaysia will pair up eight local celebrities with licensed investment advisers or opinion leaders.

The advisers will come from Bursa Malaysia’s five broker partners for the programme. They are CIMB Investment Bank, Malacca Securities, Maybank Investment Bank, Oriental Pacific Futures and TA Futures.

The advisers will guide the celebrities on developing a trading strategy and teach them how to trade and become a confident investor.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 10, 2015.
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