October 23, 2006
Barefoot brokers are powerful in Malaysia
The men who keep the Malaysian stock market ticking don’t wear pin-stripe suits, reports The Gulf Times. Some of them don’t even wear shoes. Interesting insight into the world of Malaysia’s unofficial market makers, known as syndicates.
"Tell Alan to close it at 1.24," a trader jabbers into a mobile phone as he pads around his mansion barefoot, clad in a tea-stained T-shirt and khaki pants.
In his study, seven men work the phones, shouting orders as rings of blue cigarette smoke curl slowly toward the ceiling.
They have bodyguards instead of secretaries and work from home. Outside, luxury sports cars squat in the porch and guard dogs strain at their chains.
They have been a mainstay for decades, providing liquidity in a market that is dominated by thinly traded, state-linked companies."
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