RI bourse rating raised

RI bourse rating raised

SINGAPORE (AFP): US securities firm Merrill Lynch raised its rating yesterday of Malaysian stocks for the next three-to-six months, recommending investors take a slightly more aggressive stance on Asian markets.

Merrill Lynch also upgraded the Indonesian and Thai markets, recommending a "significantly overweight Indonesia" with four-to- five percent and a 10-to-12 percent allocation for Thailand.

Revising allocations of a regional portfolio in its latest Asian Investment Strategy, Merrill Lynch cut Singapore's from 23 percent previously to 22 percent and raised the Malaysian share from 22 percent to 25 percent.

But it said the Malaysian allocation should be trimmed towards the end of 1994 and Singapore's cut to 20 percent in the fourth quarter.

Merrill Lynch said the recent lifting of curbs on inflows of foreign funds by Malaysia's central bank, Bank Negara, was "a key factor in generating higher volumes and more liquidity on the local stock market."