Bursa Malaysia Bhd chief executive officer Yusli Mohamed Yusoff expects the average daily trading volume for 2007 to hit 1.2 billion units - about 50% more than the current figure.

According to some analysts' estimate, the year-to-date average daily trading volume stood at about 776 million units.

Yusli said the current upside momentum on Bursa is expected to continue into next year, with trading velocity likely to hit 40% against the estimated 30% this year on rising investor interest.

"At the moment the market looks quite promising. Market is up about 15% year-to-date. We are certainly not over or gone too high if you were to compare with other markets. We have not gone too far in terms of valuation.

"There will be more upside for the market dependent on companies continuing to do well and also investors' confidence improving," he said after a press conference on Bursa Swing golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 22.

Yusli said the market was underpinned by a "fundamentally strong and stable" economic background.

"What we need now is growth to be shown in the companies, and this growth will then drive the interest in the market," he added.

On a separate matter, he said it was still probing the events leading to the initiation of a buy-in on Tuesday involving over 10 million shares in Scomi Group Bhd that a foreign brokerage had failed to deliver.

"In the extreme case, (it) could be the person didn't have the shares. But in this case, the person did have the shares.

"We understand that there are some issues of communication breakdown. We're looking into the matter," he said, adding that the case could be a "genuine mistake".

Meanwhile, the Bursa Swing sponsorship agreement signed with Parallel Media Asia will see Bursa sponsoring five PGA European Tour and Asian Tour co-sanctioned tournaments held in strategic locations across Asia.

"Being very competitive, it becomes visionary for Bursa in doing so as golf has a worldwide following. Within the emerging markets, we have to compete with markets that did not exist a few years ago. There is a need to raise our profile."

Parallel Media Asia managing director Keld Kristiansen said the Bursa Swing event guarantees Bursa a global television platform to over 650 million households in more than 67 countries as well as a multi-tier marketing platform with significant media value.
 
Article picked from theedgedaily.com, written by Isabelle Francis, 23 Nov 2006