Bursa Malaysia to push retail participation to 25%

Bursa Malaysia aims to boost retail investors’ participation to 25 per cent in the near term from the current 23.3 per cent with 80 programmes underway to increase financial literacy.

Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tajuddin Atan said only four percent out of the 853 respondents had chosen to invest in shares while the rest opted for less traditional investment tools.

“The public should consider share investment as part of their investment portfolio and change the perception that share investments are too risky.

“Investment in shares will help diversify portfolio with the opportunity to get higher returns compared to fixed deposit, current and savings account,” he said after launching the “What’s Your Goal” campaign to raise awareness on share investment opportunities today.

“Besides shares, there are also other investmeny products on Bursa Malaysia like Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs), structured warrants and real estate investment trusts, which are attractive and can meet different risk appetite of investors,” he added.

Tajuddin said ETFs did not have sales charge and have significantly lower management fee compared to other managed unit trust funds.

“Stamp duty exemptions announced in Budget 2018 will further enhance the attractiveness of ETFs as a low cost investment product,” he added.

As of September 27 this year, the trading average daily volume currently stands at RM572 million, 16 per cent higher that RM385 million last year.

The campaign will run for three months from November 21 to February 2018.