KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd is cautiously optimistic on the performance of the securities market in the second half of this year as the market continues to be influenced by global and local economic conditions.
Chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said the local market was the “darling” in the first quarter as it garnered strong inflows.
However, there was a reversal in the second quarter, mostly affected by events such as the announcement of a new Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Morgan Stanley Capital International portfolio rebalancing, the ambiguity of the United States interest rate hike and Britain’s decision to exit the European Union.
The total net foreign outflow in the first half of the year stood at RM100 million.
“The issues that affected the market in the first half of this year will continue to impact market performance in the second half. But we believe what we have built over the past 10 to 15 years is the key to any discerning long-term player looking at opportunities to invest in the longer period of time,” he said at a briefing on Bursa Malaysia’s first-half financial results, here, yesterday.
For the first six months of this year, Bursa Malaysia’s average daily trading value for the securities market’s on-market trades fell by 4.2 per cent to RM1.91 billion from RM1.99 billion in the same period last year.
Its market capitalisation as at June 30 rose 0.1 per cent to RM1.66 billion from RM1.659 billion a year ago.
Tajuddin said the derivatives market would continue to be spurred by the volatility in commodity prices and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI while the Islamic capital market was expected to be sustained by demand for Murabaha contracts to aid liquidity management.
On the outlook for initial public offerings on Bursa Malaysia in the second half of this year, Tajuddin said the number of companies that would be listed by year-end could reach the yearly average of teens.
“Normally every year, we have the listing numbers in the teens. But this time, the size is on the smaller side,” he said, adding that he was getting his team to encourage more companies to go for listing.
Six companies have been listed on the ACE and Main markets of Bursa Malaysia so far this year.
They include Bison Consolidated Bhd, Pecca Group Bhd and Dancomech Holdings Bhd, which are listed on the Main Market, and LKL International Bhd, Salutica Bhd and HSS Engineers Bhd listed on the ACE Market.
On another note, Bursa Malaysia’s profit after tax and minority interest rose three per cent to RM99.41 million in the first half of this year from RM96.5 million in the same period last year, driven by higher operating revenue.
The firm’s revenue for the period increased to RM263.65 million compared with RM254.11 million a year ago.
Bursa Malaysia has also maintained high dividend payout of 17 sen.
The entitlement and payment dates for the interim dividend are August 9 and August 19, respectively.