China’s reopening a relief to Malaysia’s ‘dour investment sentiment’

[KUALA LUMPUR] China’s long-awaited reopening of its borders to the rest of the world is set to boost the earnings of many Malaysian companies, with several listed firms already seeing strong buying interest since the start of the week.

“China’s economic and border reopening is significant to Malaysia’s equity outlook. (The) economic reopening provides some relief to the dour investment sentiment in Malaysia, although the uplift remains secondary to concerns of the western world entering recession amid the uncertain political landscape in Malaysia,” said Vincent Khoo, UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH) Malaysia’s head of research in a report on Monday (Jan 9).

He wrote that the two main clusters of beneficiaries are tourism-related (aviation and gaming) and commodity stocks. He added that the imminent return of Chinese tourists to Malaysian shores would uplift Malaysia’s trade balance and the ringgit.