July 15, 2010

Survey: Boo-Hoo!Global Fund Managers Will Ignore Malaysia

What a blow-another real low blow!

How sad that Malaysia has been relegated to the second-least-favoured destination among global emerging market (GEM) fund managers.

This is a serious matter since it comes from a poll conducted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research which has just been released this week.

The July survey had Taiwan, Malaysia and Chile as the most underweight markets for GEM investors. They were also slightly underweight on China due to slower growth prospects.

In financial markets, the term underweight is used by analysts to advise investors to reduce their holdings.

The findings of the survey could potentially signify a setback for poor PM Najib's bid to make Malaysia into a more competitive destination for global portfolio investment.

The Najib administration has been trying to lift Malaysia’s profile as a destination for foreign investment to help the country achieve an average gross domestic product growth of at least six per cent per annum over the next five years so that it can become a high-income nation.

The country’s foreign direct investment rates have fallen faster than other regional players like Singapore and China, and at the same time, capital outflows have dampened private domestic investments. Net portfolio and direct investment outflows had reached US$61 billion (RM197 billion) in 2008 and 2009 according to official data.

Asia-Pacific fund managers that were surveyed, though slightly underweight on Malaysia, held a more favourable view of the country and were looking to cut back the most in Korea, India and Australia instead, while China, Indonesia and Taiwan were the most-favoured markets.

There was an increased pessimism among the fund managers overall on the economic outlook, with a net 12 per cent expecting weaker economic conditions over the next 12 months, as compared with a net 42 per cent expecting a stronger global economy in a survey two months ago.

The fund managers also expect China’s prospects to worsen, with a net 39 per cent expecting weaker growth, as compared with 60 per cent seeing stronger growth in January of this year.

Malaysia’s economy grew by an impressive 10.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year but the prime minister had on July 6 cautioned that growth in the second quarter could be slower due to deteriorating external circumstances.

The local stock market had been on a seven-day winning streak and neared a two-year peak before succumbing to profit-taking yesterday.

About 200 global fund managers with portfolios worth from US$250 million to over US$10 billion had participated in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey.

So ,are we wiping away our tears?

Don't Cry for me, Malaysia?

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