Malaysia election result likely to keep financial markets volatile for a while

Analysts had the following views on how markets may react in the wake of Mahathir Mohamad’s shock victory in Malaysia’s general election victory. The 92-year-old statesman, who ran the country from 1981 to 2003, defeated his former protégé Najib Razak, ending 60 years of rule by the Barisan Nasional coalition.

While the news is excellent for democracy, market uncertainty is likely to linger as the new four-party ruling coalition has hardly any solid economic policy agenda besides scrapping the unpopular goods and services tax system

Anthony Chan, managing director, chief investment strategist, Asia, Union Bancaire Privée.

The bottom line is that while a long-term fix of governance, institutions and public life is now in sight, near-term policy uncertainty will be high. That will take a toll on the ringgit at least until more clarity emerges

Aninda Mitra, senior sovereign analyst at BNY Mellon Investment Management

Short-term, we may see market volatility given uncertainty around policy implementation. However, we may see some opportunities should policies move in the right direction