KUALA LUMPUR: Yesterday morning's downturn on Bursa Malaysia following the decision by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to quit Umno is a normal occurrence and nothing to be overly concerned about, said Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

He said this was because the country had strong economic fundamentals and the inflow of foreign exchange continued to be positive.

The positive factors will prevail in providing stimuli to the domestic equities market despite the global economic and market uncertainties, he said.

"Since the start of the year until now, our market has been stable even though markets elsewhere have been volatile with sharp ups and downs, but our market has been able to withstand these challenging waves," he said.

"Hence, a rise or fall of 10 or 20 points, for example, is a normal happening in the market nowadays and I don't see our market turning volatile, where the ups and downs are of 50 or 100 points within a day ... ours isn't like that.
"Ours is stable, and there are times it will rise a little and dip a little. But I believe and am confident that our economic fundamentals will remain unchanged and be stable despite the challenging global market prospects this year arising from the US subprime crisis and the uncertain geo-political developments around the world," he said.

At the close, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) had dropped 13.04 points to 1,287.43.

Nor Mohamed stressed that the Malaysian stock market was distinct from other markets in that the country had unique resilience and flexibility.

"In facing the present day global challenges, Malaysia's distinction from other countries is that besides our proven durability, we also have the space and opportunities to make several changes on the trot to cope with challenges.

"This is because Malaysia isn't dependent on exports alone but has various other sectors and sources that generate domestic economic activity such as domestic consumption and investments." - Bernama