Muhamad Umar (second left) shows a screen of the Bursa Anywhere app launched yesterday. Also present were chairman of the Association of Stockbroking Companies Malaysia (ACSM) Datuk Azman Manaf (second right), Bursa Malaysia chief operating officer Azalina Adham (right) and chairman of the stockbroking committee of the Malaysian Investment Banking Association Lok Eng Hong. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd aims to attract more retail investors into the equity market with the launch of “Bursa Anywhere”, the first mobile depository e-services application in the South East Asian region.
Chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said currently, the ratio between institutional and retail investors in Malaysia’s equity market stood at 75:25.
“We would like to see the ratio at 70 per cent for institutional investors and 30 per cent for retail investors for the long term.
“That is our internal target and what we are encouraging,” he told a media briefing after the launch of the application yesterday.
“Bursa Anywhere” is a mobile app that allows individual investors to access a wide range of central depository services (CDS) anywhere, anytime.
“It provides a consolidated view of investors’ CDS accounts, showing the marked-to-market value of their portfolios, and becomes the one place for retail investors to go to and manage all things on Bursa Malaysia,” said Muhamad Umar.
The company aims to deliver the new mobile experience to nearly two million CDS account holders in Malaysia, he said.
On the outlook for the local stock market, Muhamad Umar said Malaysia’s fundamentals remain sound despite the external headwinds due to trade tensions between the United States and China.
“Of course we are still attractive compared with other emerging markets, as the strong gross domestic product growth, stable government and strong banking system are the main drivers of the market,” he said.
He believed that more initial public offerings (IPOs) would take place this year compared with the previous year, although the valuation of the IPOs would still depend on the companies that go for listing.
Bursa Malaysia saw 22 IPOs in 2018 compared with 14 listings in 2017, but the amount raised was lower at RM633.12 million from RM7.38 billion in 2017, as most of the IPOs in 2018 were LEAP market listings.
So far, there have been eight listings this year on the local bourse, including five LEAP market listings, two on the ACE market and one on the Main market.
According to the Bursa Malaysia website, there will be another three listings coming up next, namely HPMT Holdings Bhd, which will be listed on the Main Market today, followed by Greatech Technology Bhd and Mestron Holdings Bhd, which will be listed on the ACE market on June 13 and June 18, respectively. — Bernama