KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd is optimistic that securities trading activity will improve in the second half of 2025 on the back of strong domestic liquidity and improved sentiment.
CEO Datuk Fad’l Mohamed said Malaysia has “very strong domestic liquidity”, with asset managers currently holding substantial cash positions.
“So they will want to deploy that cash. We expect the second half to be more optimistic, with higher levels of ADB (average daily trading value) being traded.
“If you look at where consensus is, analyst consensus remains at about RM2.6 billion in terms of ADB. So we still hold to that,“ he said at a media briefing on the group’s first-half 2025 financial results today.
He added that current market valuations also support the outlook for a recovery in the latter half of the year.
“Also, with valuations where they are today, we certainly are very optimistic about the market having a better second half of 2025,“ Fad’l said.
Securities trading contributed 42% to Bursa Malaysia’s total earnings in the first half of 2025. The drop in operating revenue was largely due to a 24.8% decline in average daily value (ADV) for On-Market Trades, which fell to RM2.5 billion from RM3.3 billion a year ago.
Fad’l said the decline in securities trading volume was cyclical rather than structural.
“Like every other market, quite clearly, we go through cycles of optimism and correction. We have to accept that. For us, we are clearly looking ahead,“ he said.
He noted that investor optimism and capital deployment in 2025 are being driven by expectations of stronger earnings recovery in 2026.
“We expect 2025 growth to be driven by forward-looking catalysts. With current valuations, this is the time when you will see capital being deployed to capture the upside in 2026,“ he said.
He added that this anticipated shift in sentiment and capital flows could help spark a recovery in trading activity in the near term.
“So we hope that some of the elevated cash holdings will also be channelled into the market to help propel it forward,“ Fad’l said.
As a result of weaker trading revenue, Bursa Malaysia posted a 19.3% drop in net profit to RM125.5 million for the first half of 2025.
The stock exchange’s total revenue for the first half stood at RM356.96 million, down 7.8% from RM387.14 million a year earlier. It has declared an interim dividend of 14 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2025. This amounts to RM113.3 million, corresponding to a dividend payout ratio of 90.3%.
