CEO CONFIDENT MORE INVESTORS WILL BE DRAWN TO STOCK MART

KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Bernama) -- The initiatives taken by the government,
the strong performance of local companies and the new measures to be introduced
by the stock exchange will attract more investors to the local bourse.

Bursa Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer Yusli Mohamed Yusoff said this
after announcing that the company posted a 22-percent increase in net profit to
RM35 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2009.

He said the securities exchange would introduce measures such as direct
market access later this year and also planned to reduce the minimum bid
structure.

"We believe all these will continue to attract more investors to the
marketplace," he said.

He said the stock exchange had seen a reduction in foreign participation but
this was mitigated by the pick-up in retail activities.

"Foreign investors are still in the market but at a slightly lower level
than before. Some of them continue to be in, some have not investing as much as
in the past," he said.

In the first half of 2009, foreign investors made up about 26 percent of the
market and the main reason was they were still quite uncertain about the market
potential, he said.

Retail activities, meanwhile, had risen especially in the second quarter
while local institutions were still very active, Yusli said.

Despite that, the environment was expected to continue to be very
challenging due to global economic uncertainties but efforts by the government
in trying to stimulate the economy would help mitigate any adverse impact from
the uncertainties, he said. (US$1=RM3.53)
-- BERNAMA