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."