Inve$t | Market Sentiments | 17 March 2023
Bursa Malaysia Berhad continues to urge the public to be wary and alert of investment scams. The Exchange has noted an increase in reports of investment scams, with scammers using various social media channels, including popular chat applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram and iMessage, to lure unsuspecting members of the public to participate in dubious investment schemes. Bursa Malaysia advises members of the public to be vigilant when approached by parties misrepresenting themselves as the Exchange, its employees or endorsed third party agents.
According to a report issued by the Ministry of Communications & Digital, Malaysians lost almost RM600 million in 2022, up from RM511 million in 2021, due to online scams and other cybercrimes. The most recent scam noted is on WhatsApp, where recipients are prompted to follow up on their trading accounts, or join a WhatsApp group, by calling a name and mobile number provided in the WhatsApp message. Bursa Malaysia categorically denies issuing this communication.
As with previous occasions, these scammers misuse the Bursa Malaysia name and logo, as well as misrepresenting themselves as employees of the Exchange. Other recent scams include using names and photographs of Bursa Malaysia’s top management to entice members of the public to invest in unauthorised investment schemes. Bursa Malaysia would also like to remind members of the public to only invest with licensed investment professionals. Whenever in doubt, please visit Bursa Academy at https://bursaacademy.bursamarketplace.com/en/investor-alert for a list of licensed intermediaries and representatives.
The #StayAlert initiative is part of Bursa Malaysia’s ongoing public service to educate members of the public against investment scams, which includes the on-going Sens-Ability financial management programme. In relation to this, the Exchange has released a series of online posts about different types of scams misrepresenting Bursa Malaysia, which include social media scams, Telegram groups, as well as the use of forged letterheads and logos. Members of the public may view these awareness postings on the Bursa Academy website. To gain the right investment knowledge and tools in order to make informed decisions and identify fraudulent activities, members of the public are invited to visit Bursa Malaysia’s website www.bursamalaysia.com and the following official microsites and social media channels:
- Bursa Marketplace – https://www.bursamarketplace.com/ − featuring several major investment tools for new investors to learn the basics of investing
- Bursa Academy – https://bursaacademy.bursamarketplace.com/en/home − a one-stop e-learning platform that covers three markets namely equities, derivatives and Islamic capital markets
- Bursa Malaysia Facebook − https://www.facebook.com/BursaMalaysia
- Bursa Malaysia Instagram − https://www.instagram.com/bursamalaysia
- Bursa Malaysia LinkedIn − https://www.linkedin.com/company/bursamalaysia
- Bursa Malaysia Telegram − https://t.me/bursamalaysiaofficial
- Bursa Malaysia Twitter − https://twitter.com/BursaMalaysia
- Bursa Malaysia YouTube − https://www.youtube.com/BursaMalaysia
Should members of the public receive unsolicited or suspicious communications relating to, or claiming to be agents of Bursa Malaysia, please email bursa2u@bursamalaysia.com or call 03 – 2732 0067 to authenticate the content of any such communication. Remember, when in doubt, always verify and report.
Malaysian capital market remains robust amidst uncertain global markets – SC
According to Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) Corporate Finance and Investments executive director Datuk Zain Azhari Mazlan, the Malaysian capital market remained robust and orderly amidst weaker global financial markets and uncertain geopolitical conflicts. The SC is confident it would continue to play a significant role in financing economic growth and mobilising savings for productive investments. In his keynote address at the 2023 Morningstar Fund Awards Malaysia, he said global financial markets registered weaker performance last year with the continued tightening of global financial conditions. Further intensification of geopolitical conflicts significantly increased overall uncertainties in 2022, and this, along with other factors, will shape the outlook of the global market going forward.
The resilience of Malaysia’s economy was evidenced by full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8.7 per cent, which was underpinned by favourable domestic demand momentum, steady expansion in the external sector, and continued improvement in labour market conditions. As the capital market evolves, with technological innovation and increasingly complex products, investors tend to benefit from better access, choice, and information in relation to investments. Concurrently, this also presents increased risks and new challenges, especially for investors who are less adept and at greater risk of exploitation. The SC is cognisant of responding to these changes in upholding its mandate for investor protection. As such, the SC’s regulatory approach, moving forward, will place greater emphasis on the identification and assessment of vulnerable investors.
On the global outlook for 2023, this year is expected to be challenging and subject to various uncertainties, from the pace of the monetary policy normalisation to geopolitical fragmentation. Domestically, the economy is expected to grow moderately, around 4.5 per cent, based on projections by the Ministry of Finance. The SC remained committed to progressive policymaking, aiming to be adaptive to changes and use novel means to achieve intended outcomes.
The SC, together with private retirement schemes (PRS) providers, will be exploring how behavioural interventions can be leveraged to encourage greater retirement savings amongst Malaysians. This involves designing interventions to nudge Malaysians into making better decisions for retirement. An example is to automating regular PRS contributions and introducing spare-change saving features.
The SC would continue to emphasise strategic engagement with all key stakeholders for more inclusive development of the capital market by developing an industry-wide survey to all fund management firms to seek perspectives on challenges and opportunities to catalyse the next phase of growth for the Malaysian fund management industry.
Eye On The Markets
This week, on Thursday (16Mar), the Ringgit closed at 4.5015 against the USD from 4.5155 on Monday (13Mar). Meanwhile, the Ringgit was 3.3420 to the Sing Dollar on Thursday (16Mar). On Monday (13Mar), the FBM KLCI opened at 1419.42. As at Friday (17Mar) 10:00am, the FBM KLCI is down 16.73 points for the week at 1402.69. Over in US, the overnight Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 371.98 points (+1.17%) to 32,246.55 whilst the NASDAQ gained 283.23 points (+2.48%) to 11,717.28.
