Mahathir says 'serious' investors have returned

Mahathir says 'serious' investors have returned

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
met foreign fund managers Saturday and expressed confidence that
"serious" foreign investors had returned to the local stock
market after recent sharp declines.

"They have already gone back to the market. There is no
doubt," he told reporters attending the annual congress of the
country's main ruling party.

"These are serious investors," the prime minister said,
drawing a sharp contrast between such investors and "manipulators
who are just coming in to play around with the market in order to
make gains for themselves."

"These are people who are investing and they themselves do not
like to see the shares go down because they bought these shares
at a higher price.

"So if the shares go down, they lose money. They would like to
see the shares appreciate again," he said.

Mahathir declined to identify the foreign fund managers but
sources said at least 12 were involved in the lunchtime meeting
at a hotel adjacent to the headquarters of his party, the United
Malays National Organization (UMNO).

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim also
attended, along with former finance minister Daim Zanuddin, a
leading businessman who also serves as government economic
advisor, the sources said.

The remarks by Mahathir came on top of a 12 percent surge in
share prices Friday, the biggest one-day gain in almost four
years, following news that trading restrictions had been lifted
and huge infrastructure projects delayed.

"I would like to believe that the worst is over," Daim told
reporters earlier Saturday after a separate meeting with foreign
fund managers on Friday. He said he would hold further meetings
with fund managers on Monday.

Daim reportedly said that foreign fund managers were
"initially shocked" at recent government restrictions to halt the
slide in Malaysian share prices, which have plunged by about a
third so far this year.

"But we explained to them that we had to resort to some kind
of action to trap the short sellers," he said, referring to
traders who try to make profits by selling shares in the hope of
buying them back later at a lower price.