KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s capital market is set grow from strength to strength, backed by strong fundamentals in our economy and improving crude oil prices, said Bursa Malaysia Bhd chairman Tan Sri Amirsham Aziz.
“Since 2009, the FBM Kuala Lumpur Composite Index and average daily volume on Bursa Malaysia have both expanded by 105 per cent. Market capitalisation has also grown by 187 per cent,” he said.
“We expect the momentum of solid growth rates in 2017 to continue into 2018,” he said in his speech to an audience of more than 1,000 delegates here today.
Today, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak, who is also Finance Minister, officiated at the opening ceremony of Invest Malaysia 2018.
Bursa Malaysia and Maybank Group are co-organisers of this year’s edition of the Invest Malaysia series which have been running for a decade. Today's event, which is also the 14th edition, is premised on the theme ‘connecting strengths, advancing performance.’
Also present were Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, Chief secretary to the government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, Treasury secretary general Tan Sri Irwan Siregar Abdullah, Securities Commission chairman Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh, Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, Maybank Group chairman Datuk Mohaiyani, Maybank Group president and chief executive officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias.
Amirsham noted that in the last six months the stock exchange has introduced initiatives such as Leading Entrepreneur Accelerator Platform (LEAP) market, the world’s first Shariah-compliant securities borrowing and lending alternative and the world’s first Shariah-compliant exchange traded fund (ETF) backed by physical growth.
He also highlighted the government has exempted stamp duty on ETF transactions to further stimulate vibrancy in the capital market.
He also explained LEAP, a platform where wealthy investors can participate in the growth of small and medium enterprises, is gaining popularity.
Another milestone Bursa had achieved is the launch of the third edition of the Corporate Governance Guide, which is in line with Securities Commission’s new code on this matter.