KUALA LUMPUR: The strong first-half performance of Bursa Malaysia Bhd
is a result of the improved liquidity and market sentiments on the back of increased optimism in Malaysia’s economic progress and plans, said chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar.
"With Malaysia’s economic conditions anticipated to remain favourable, we are optimistic that strong results will be reflected in the Exchange’s performance for the second half of the year," he said in a statement.
Taking into account the year-to-date result, Abdul Wahid said the board of directors has revised the pre-tax profit (PBT) headline key performance indicator (KPI) higher to a range of RM361mil to RM379mil from the previously announced range of RM293mil to RM323mil.
In the second quarter of 2024 (2Q24), Bursa Malaysia registered a net profit of RM80.45mil, up from RM76.25mil in the year-ago quarter, translating to an earnings per share of 9.9 sen against 9.4 sen previously.
Its revenue for the quarter was up to RM199.94mil from RM144.6mil.
Cumulatively, Bursa Malaysia recorded a net profit of RM155.48mil in 1H24 as compared to RM132.42mil in 1H23, while revenue rose to RM387.14mil from RM301.1mil in the year-ago period.
The board of directors declared an interim dividend of 18 sen per share, amounting to RM145.7mil and a dividend payout ratio of 93.7%.
In the same statement, CEO Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said he expects the strong performance of the stock exchange in the first half of 2024 to be sustained, driven by current economic conditions and improved market sentiment.
During this period, the capital market surpassed a record-high market capitalisation of RM2 trillion while the FBM KLCI hit its highest level in three years after breaching the psychological 1,600 mark.
"Trading in the securities market has remained active, contributing significantly to the Exchange’s performance," said Umar, in reference to a notable 52.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in securities trading revenue in 1H24 to RM192.2mil.
According to him, the substantial growth in securities trading was owing to higher average daily trading value (ADV) for on-market trades (OMT) and direct business trades (DBT), which rose to RM3.5bil from RM2.1bil in 1H23.
The trading velocity during this period increased 14 percentage points to 42% from a year earlier.
Non-trading revenue in the securities market, meanwhile, increased 9.6% to RM72.3mil with listing and issuer services and depository services contributing significantly to this growth, recording RM33.1mil and RM31.4mil in 1H24.
In derivatives, trading revenue increased 16.8% to RM51.9mil in 1H24 due to the higher number of crude palm oil futures (FCPO) and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Futures (FKLI) contracts traded, as well as higher collaterla management fees earned.
Average daily contracts for the derivatives market increased 13.6%, with 84,927 contracts traded in 1H24 compared to 74,735 in 1H23.
In the Islamic markets, Bursa Suq Al-Sila’ trading revenue decreased 5.3% to RM8.3mil in 1H24, down from RM8.8mil in 1H23.
The data business segment reported operating revenue of RM38mil, a 15.4% increase from the RM32.9mil generated in 1H23.
"The growth was primarily driven by the Exchange’s continued focus on client acquisition strategy through its group and affiliation programme, growth in data licensing for algorithmic trading and analytics, index revenue from its partnership with FTSE-Russell (London Stock Exchange Group) as well as higher number of subscribers in 1H24," it said.
