KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian capital market grew by 12.6 per cent to RM3.2 trillion last year, with double digit growth across all segments, says the Securities Commission Malaysia.
The equity market capitalisation and Islamic capital market grew by 14.4 per cent and 11.9 per cent respectively, to both end at RM1.9 trillion each.
The bond and Sukuk market meanwhile grew by 10.1 per cent to RM1.3 trillion.
"This is a significant growth for Malaysia, at RM3.2 trillion it is at 2.4 times gross domestic product (GDP) and is now the fifth largest in Asia,” said SC chairman Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh.
"This was all achievable on the back of strong economic growth, continuation of earnings recovery, and we did see a lot of companies using the capital markets for fund raising. We have also seen positive foreign direct investments (FDI) in 2017,” he said at the SC 2017 Annual Report announcement this morning.
Ranjit also noted that at RM1.9 trillion, the Islamic capital market is now at almost 60 per cent of the overall capital market.
"At RM1.9 trillion, the Malaysian Islamic capital market maintained its leading position in Malaysia. It also maintain its leading position globally, with 38 per cent of global Sukuk issuances,” he said.
Fundraising for 2017 totalled at RM146.6 billion, surpassing the five-year average of RM116 billion.
A strong upward momentum in business activity was also reflected in corporate bond and Sukuk issuances, which at RM124.9 billion had exceeded the RM100 billion mark since 2012.
Fundraising through the equity market also grew to RM21.7 billion in 2017 from RM12.8 billion the year before.
The continuation of global economic expansion is expected to have a positive influence on capital markets in 2018, said Ranjit.
“Against a setting of sound economic fundamentals and higher earnings forecasts, the overall outlook for the Malaysian capital market is positive.
"With this, we expect market-based fund raising to remain strong at some RM120 billion.”