KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — The government’s dedication to economic reforms and ongoing positive growth indicators continue to drive foreign buying in Malaysia’s stock market.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said it reflects investors medium- and long-term confidence in the country.

"One of the reasons why the stock market is up is that it shows the confidence of our investors in the medium and long term, as well as showing that the government policies we have implemented so far are the right policies.

"At the same time, the economic overflow will be enjoyed by companies as well as the rakyat,” he told reporters after the Malaysia Smart Manufacturing Awards 2023 event yesterday.

He said that according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), Malaysia’s economy is estimated to expand by 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2024, up from 4.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

Thus, the positive numbers will signal more inflow of foreign funds into Bursa Malaysia, domestic direct investment as well as foreign direct investment.

Tengku Zafrul was commenting on a Bloomberg article noting that Malaysia’s stock market is once again attracting global investors, attributed to the country’s good potential in artificial intelligence (AI) related services in the region.

The report said international funds turned net buyers of the equities this year as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim implemented policies to boost foreign investments in the semiconductor industry and AI data centres. — Bernama