Malaysia sukuk sale lures weakest demand in 2015 on 1MDB concern

Malaysia attracted the weakest demand at a sovereign sukuk auction in almost eight months amid concern it will need to bail out state-owned investment company 1Malaysia Development. The Treasury sold 3.5 billion ringgit ($916 million) of Shariah-compliant bonds due October 2025 to yield 4.105 percent on Thursday. The bid-to-cover ratio of 1.85 was the lowest since Dec. 5. Prime Minister Najib Razak removed his deputy Tuesday as he seeks to head off a public rift within his cabinet over his handling of financial probes into debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The entity’s borrowings totaled 41.9 billion ringgit ($11 billion) at the end of March 2014.