Malaysia makes bold changes (CIMB)

Day 2 of the Invest Malaysia conference featured two plenary sessions by Khazanah and the MB/Chief Ministers of Johor, Penang and Sabah. Both sessions were well attended, with the 1,000-capacity ballroom being almost full. There were also 15 corporate presentations by leading Bursa-listed companies. Overall, we remain very encouraged by the policy announcements made during IM09 as they can be considered to be among the most significant made at this annual event. Also, we believe interest in the Malaysian equity market will receive a boost from the participation of 70 representatives of more than 50 foreign fund management firms as well as close to 600 domestic investors. In the past four Invest Malaysia conferences, the KLCI posted gains averaging 4% to 6% in the 4-6 week period after the conference. We believe this could happen again. We maintain our OVERWEIGHT stance on Malaysia and year-end KLCI target of 1,220 points.