KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Bursa Malaysia Bhd Chief Executive Officer Datuk Tajuddin Atan says the exchange operator has 10 initial public offering (IPO) applications in the pipeline for the second half of 2013, in addition to three IPOs this month. 

He said there has been a lot of interest in fund-raising activities and are expected to pick up during the remaining of the year.

"There are 10 IPOs in the pipeline, of which seven have been approved.

"The prospects are healthy to ensure that we have enough activities in the remainder of the year. (Investor sentiments) I think should still be positive," he said after announcing Bursa Malaysia’s first half financial results today. 

The exchange operator had seven new listings in the first half of 2013 (1H13), with funds raised from the listings and secondary market at RM10.43 billion compared to RM13.87 billion in the same period last year.

Foreign net inflow was up by 141 per cent in 1H13 to RM14.5 billion from RM6 billion in a year earlier.

Foreign participation in FKLI was up by 47 per cent from 42 per cent in 2007 while foreign participation in FCPO was up 39 per cent in the 1H13 from RM57 billion in the same period last year. 

Trading velocity for 1H13 was three per cent higher at 33 per cent.

Average daily trading value for the securities market increased 19 per cent to RM2.06 billion while average daily contracts traded for derivatives market increased 21 per cent to 43,358 contracts. 

"A lot of interests are coming in, not only from domestic investors but also foreign in both equity, derivatives and Islamic," Tajuddin said.

On growth performance, the group expects to gain traction in the second half of its financial year 2013.

He said some portfolio rebalancing has took place after a big sell-off by foreign funds in June.

As at end June, Bursa Malaysia market capitalisation was up by 17 per cent to RM1.60 trillion.

On whether the recent credit crunch in China was affecting Chinese companies’ listing, Tajuddin said Bursa has always been prudent with regard to qualification and raising the bar of the qualified companies.

Bursa also announced 16 sen interim dividend and 20 sen special dividend. — Bernama