KUALA LUMPUR (May 28): Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said there is nothing to worry about the recent selldown in the stock market, as he believes it will likely be short-lived.

He said the market's decline was taking cue from most Southeast Asian regional markets, as a result of the strengthening of the US dollar, as well as continued uncertainty in global political issues, eg US-China trade issues and the North Korea-US summit.

"The market is in line with the regional markets. There has been a bit of a selldown in all regional markets because of the strengthening of the dollar as well as global political issues.

"Other than that, we see that market activity [is] at healthy levels on Bursa Malaysia. So there is no particular concern about that," he told reporters today after attending a meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons.

Shahril advised market observers to not get hung up on short-term market reaction as markets should always be viewed over three- to five-year cycles.

"All regional markets have a bit of a selldown because of the flight from emerging markets but this happens quite regularly. So I don't think there is anything to be concerned about," he added.

When asked, Shahril said the issue of toll abolition was not discussed during the meeting.

EPF was one of the a series of government institutions scheduled to meet the Council of Eminent Persons today, including Lembaga Tabung Haji, Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) and Khazanah Nasional Bhd. The main focus for the meetings is to uphold the new government's effort towards institutional reforms.