Encourage Gen Y to participate in equity market — ASCM
KUALA LUMPUR: The younger generation, especially Generation-Y, should be encouraged to participate in the equity market and help invigorate it.
The Association of Stockbroking Companies Malaysia (ASCM) chairman Datuk Ahmad Azman Abdul Manaf said at present, 65 per cent of the market is dominated by those above 40, and only five per cent by the younger generation.
“They generally earn less , having just started working. To prepare them to succeed the older generation, we need to make equity prices more affordable, and break the board lots for them to buy individual shares,” he told Bernama.
He said this after the ‘How to benefit from share market’ talk, organised by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
Ahmad Azman said ASCM also wants naked short-selling to be available to all investors as this would multiply volume on the stock market tremendously.
“At present, about 40 proprietary day traders are licenced by Bursa Malaysia to engage in the naked short-selling activities,” he added.
HecitedtheMacquarieResearch which showed that almost 50 per cent of Malaysians had not heard of Bursa Malaysia and did not understand anything about the stock market.
“The Malaysian stock market penetration rate is very low with 3.5 million certificate of deposit accounts and only 400,000 active traders. To increase market velocity and trading volume, ASCM, Bursa Malaysia and the Securities Commission must work hand in hand,” he said.
Ahmad Azman also said Bursa Malaysia is expected to pick up by the third quarter of this year, based on the better performance of local companies. — Bernama