MALAYSIA EYES ENTRY INTO 'ADVANCED EMERGING MARKET' SEGMENT OF FTSE GLOBAL EQUITY INDEX SERIES

PETALING JAYA, June 9 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian capital market aspires to
be in the 'Advanced Emerging Market' segment on the FTSE Global Equity Index
Series this year in order become an efficient, liberal and liquid capital
market.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer, Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, said
Malaysia was currently in the 'Secondary Emerging Market' segment.

"This is something the FTSE committee has to decide. It will look at the
countries' classifications," he told reporters on the sidelines of the 12th
Malaysian Finance Association conference here Wednesday.

Yusli said the FTSE would make the decision sometimes in the third quarter
and hoped that the Malaysian capital market would be upgraded.

"The UK-based FTSE is an index company and its committee members consist of
market players around the world," he said.

He said basically, the FTSE would look at criteria like the quality of the
markets and foreign exchange policies as well as market regulatory framework.

Yusli said Singapore was currently in the 'Development Market' segment.

The three-day conference, which started yesterday, was launched by
International Trade and Industry Minister, Mustapa Mohamed.

Earlier, Yusli presented a paper entitled: "Malaysian capital market: Does
Liberalisation Need Re-regulated?".

Among the speakers who participated in the session were Securities
Commission Malaysia's managing director, Dr Nik Ramlah Mahmood and board
director of CPA Australia, Christina Foo.

Nik Ramlah said the size of capital market has doubled over the last decade.

She said it has reached RM1.7 trillion (US$1 = RM3.3) in 2009, exceeding the
target of RM1.5 trillion.

"We want to attract not only local fund managers but also foreign to
benchmark ourself. We need to benchmark our capital market to attract more
players.

"This is to make sure that Malaysia is internationally competitive," she
said.


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