May I know how you go about buying Malaysian stocks? Do you go through a broker in Singapore? Or you buy the stocks via an online trading platform? Can you suggest us ways to trade?
The cheapest way is to open a Malaysian online trading account e.g. Maybank in JB. Maybank has an investment centre at Jalan Pingai. It is at the top floor of this shop house:
Maybank Pelangi
12, Jalan Pingai, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
They will open a bank account for you. Actually 2 accounts wii be created, a wadiah & premium account. You fund the account by depositing $ at any Malaysian Maybank branch. The funds will be put in the Wadiah account. You do an online transfer from the wadiah to the premium account. Any share purchases will be taken out from the premium account.
You will also get a Maybank ATM card which can be used to withdraw funds from the wadiah account.
Once you own Malaysian equities, Maybank will start sending you a statements at your Spore address. Make sure you provide a Spore telephone number because Maybank will use this number if you have to reset your password. They will also use this number to call you about rights issues.
I chose Maybank because I don't drive & they have a convenient branch at City Square Mall. Someone told me they opened a trading account with Standard Charter in JB. You may want to check with Standard Charter.
A more expensive option is to use a Spore broker to buy Malaysian shares. This was how I originally bought my Malaysian shares in the past. If you take this route you will be hit by a monthly custodial fee of $2 per counter.