KUALA LUMPUR (May 5): An appetite for investment yield is driving foreign investors back to the Malaysian market after a noticeable sell-down at the end of 2014, said J.P. Morgan Chase & Co managing director and senior country officer for Malaysia Steve Clayton.

"We are bullish on the fact that foreign investors are looking again at Malaysia. While we do not think they are coming in massive numbers, we are beginning to see a change in trend. Foreigners are becoming buyers rather than sellers," Clayton told a press briefing on J.P. Morgan’s business and an outlook for Malaysia’s markets in 2015 today.

"From the deals that we have seen (so far)... they are all driven by yield," he said.

Clayton cited foreign institutional participation in the institutional portion of the initial public offering (IPO) of Malakoff Corp Bhd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd's US$5 billion bond offering, as examples of foreign appetite for the Malaysian market in 2015.

"Malakoff was sold on the basis of yield. Nowadays, that is what investors are looking for and Malakoff being a utility company, offers all the right credentials for that objective," he explained.