Bursa Malaysia’s 2Q pre-tax profit jumps to RM81.45 million

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd recorded a higher pretax profit of RM81.45 million for the second quarter (Q2) ended June 30, 2017 compared with RM69.437 million in the same quarter last year on the back of increased trading activities across all segments.

Revenue jumped to RM142.67 million from RM129.71 million previously, it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia.

The bourse operator said this brought the first-half year’s pretax profit to RM160.18 million versus RM140.03 million previously and revenue to RM285.35 million compared with RM263.65 million for the first half of 2016.

Its chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan, said the stock exchange’s strong performance in the first half of 2017 came on the back of increased trading activities across all segments.

“We are seeing renewed interests, especially from foreign funds who, I am pleased to note, are continuing to return to Malaysia’s capital market since the start of the year,” he said.

He said stronger domestic trade contributed to a 30.8 per cent increase in the Average Daily Trading Value for the Securities Markets On-Market Trades to RM2.5 billion.

The first half of 2017 saw eight initial public offerings that raised a total of RM3.5 billion compared to five listings which raised RM0.4 billion in the same period last year, he said.

“Going forward, we remain cautiously optimistic about the growth momentum for the rest of the year. Our aim continues to be creating a vibrant and sustainable capital market ecosystem to provide more opportunities for fund-raising and trading activities for all our stakeholders,” he said.