The Reaction of the Malaysian Stock Market to the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Published in: Journal of contemporary Eastern Asia Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 63 - 84
• Main Authors: Mehmood, Waqas, Mohd-Rashid, Rasidah, Aman-Ullah, Attia, Shafique, Owais, Tajuddin, Ahmad Hakimi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: COVID-19; Malaysian stock market; Sectorial indices
• ISSN: 2383-9449

The present study was conducted to understand the turmoil effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the Malaysian stock market during the different periods of the Movement Control Order (MCO). The present study was based on the secondary data extracted from the DataStream and Bloomberg from 2nd January 2020 to 29th May 2020 to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the Malaysian stock market. The findings suggested that during the different periods of the Movement Control Order (MCO) from the 1st January to 29th May 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the performance of KLCI index and all sectoral indices. The weakest performance indices were energy, property, and finance while the least affected indices were healthcare, technology, telecommunications, and media. This paper provides a review of the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the Malaysian stock market throughout the different periods of MCO.