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AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Singapore, Sept 8: Hundreds of anxious retail investors in Singapore rushed to open accounts in Kuala Lumpur for their Malaysian shares here Monday, the first working day after stock exchange officials announced that trading on such shares would cease. More than 400 investors, mostly the average man-on-the-street, formed a long queue in front of DBS Securities, the securities arm of top local bank Development Bank of Singapore, in the central business district.
``These are very painful moves. All our hard-earned money are in those shares,'' said a retired senior civil servant, while his wife listened anxiously to a DBS employee patiently explaining the procedures.
``All we can do is wait and see. If I sell now, I will be reduced to a pauper,'' he said.
Malaysian shares traded here fell by as much as 33 per cent last week. The Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) announced late Friday that it could no longer conduct trading of Malaysian shares in its over-the-counter market known as the Central Limit OrderBook International. In Kuala Lumpur, share prices ended 22 per cent up but off their intra-day high, but analysts felt the buying by retail investors there was unsustainable, as foreigners were unable to sell their shares and the political situation remained uncertain.
Meanwhile, UOB Asset Management Ltd, linked to another top Singapore bank United Overseas Bank, announced the suspension of trading in its United Malaysia Fund.
``This is because the remittance of money, which will be involved in the realisation of investments in Malaysia in order to meet redemptions of units is now restricted,'' it said in a statement. The manager of the unit trust would be evaluating its options and would issue a statement in seven days to inform unit holders of the next course of action, it added.
These moves came after some drastic measures Kuala Lumpur imposed last week to curb offshore trading of Malaysian shares and its currency the ringgit. Through its member stockbrokers, the SES said it was making arrangementsfor investors with outstanding Malaysian shares here to have their holdings reflected in M Alaysia's Central Depository Sdn. Bhd.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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