PETALING JAYA: Slumping to its lowest level in 13 months, FBM KLCI solidifies its position as the worst performer among Asia’s key stock indices.
Investors, who were already spooked by the Budget 2022 tax measures, chose to stay on the sidelines as the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and the exit of foreign investors battered sentiment.
Year-to-date up to Dec 6, an analysis by StarBiz among 10 Asian stock markets showed that FBM KLCI declined by 8.83%.
The only other stock exchange that saw a decline was the Philippines’ by 0.93%.
Other stock indices such as India’s Sensex, Taiwan’s Taiex, Singapore’s Straits Times Index and Thailand’s SET all rose by 21%, 20.1%, 10% and 8.2% respectively.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index was up 7.2% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index increased by 3.4%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi, on the other hand, rose by 2.45% and 0.98% respectively.
Yesterday, FBM KLCI dropped by 18.29 points or 1.22% to 1,483.45 points. This is the lowest level for the barometer index of Bursa Malaysia since Nov 4, 2020
Technology stocks led the list of biggest losers across the overall market.
The bloodbath in the Malaysian stock market yesterday was also a reaction to the decline in all three major United States indices in the previous session, with Nasdaq suffering the most.
The slump in Chinese equities, following news that Chinese companies will likely be delisted from the US stock exchanges, also hurt investor sentiment more.
Amid such negative developments, low liquidity in the Malaysian equity market suppressed most blue chips and penny stocks from any meaningful gains.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded was recorded at 3.66 billion. The value of securities traded was just RM2.57bil.
The domestic market liquidity is affected by the foreign fund outflow from Malaysian equities, which accelerated to RM550.9mil for the week ended Dec 3.
This compared with an outflow of RM163.64mil from the local equity market in the previous week, according to MIDF Research data.
“This was the second week of outflow after seven weeks prior of net inflow by foreign investors,” said the brokerage.
Foreign investors were net sellers every day of the previous trading week, except for Monday.
On Wednesday, net foreign outflow amounted to RM263.83mil, the largest amount for the week.
Retail investors and local institutions meanwhile went the opposite direction, recording net purchases on everyday of the week except for Monday.
Over the course of the week, retailers were net buyers of RM394.39mil worth of local equities while local institutions were cumulative weekly net buyers of RM156.52mil on Bursa.
Looking ahead, Hong Leong Bank Investment Research expects the local bourse to remain choppy as investors weigh on the renewed selling spree from foreign institutions.
The brokerage said investors are also weighing on the US Federal Reserve’s faster wind-down to its bond-buying programme, further clarifications on the new taxes proposed in Budget 2022, the upcoming Sarawak state election on Dec 18, and how the contagious Omicron variant will impact global reopening plans.
“However, FBM KLCI may establish strong interim supports near 1,483 points (52-week low) and 1,452 points (two-year low) levels before staging a more meaningful oversold rebound towards the key resistances at 1,520-1,540-1,560 levels, in anticipation of the December window-dressing activities.
“Statistically, the odds are in their favour as the key market barometer had logged positive monthly performance, with an average monthly return of 2.2% since 2011.
“We suggest investors accumulate high potential window-dressed companies,” it said in a note yesterday.