Chief Executive Officer's Message |
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2. Diversifying Our Products A broad and multifaceted product range is a feature of all leading exchanges. Accordingly, Bursa Malaysia must expand its offerings to cater to the growing and sophisticated needs of investors. a. Exchange Traded Funds The growth of ETFs over the past three years has given investors wider investment options. Generally, ETFs increase liquidity in the stock market and present investors an opportunity to invest in a wide array of stocks at a lower cost. In January 2008, we listed MyETF Dow Jones Islamic Market Malaysia Titans 25 (MyETF-DJIM25) which was seeded by government linked investment companies. This is Malaysia's first National ETF and also the first Shariah compliant ETF in Asia. With MyETF-DJIM25, investors can acquire units of the fund with a single transaction, and immediately invest in the largest 25 Shariah compliant companies trading on the stock market, as determined by the Dow Jones Islamic Market Malaysia Titans 25 Index. b. USD Crude Palm Oil Futures As part of Bursa Malaysia's plan to grow the derivatives market, we have introduced FUPO, a USD denominated crude palm oil futures contract. FUPO is basically a cash settled contract that uses FCPO's settlement price. The wide appeal of the FCPO, which is the global pricing benchmark for palm oil, encouraged us to expand our offerings in USD denominated commodity derivatives. This new derivatives product not only provides an opportunity for us to further globalise our futures market but also positions Bursa Malaysia as an internationally competitive marketplace for derivatives trading. Launched in September 2008, FUPO is mainly designed to attract foreign traders and investors who wish to trade in USD. Providing choice and variety to the market players are key elements of our strategies. We have, therefore, developed a firm plan to introduce more products in the coming year. Some of the products in the pipeline include multi-currency and thematic ETFs, as well as new index linked products.
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