Bursa Malaysia’s net profit for the first quarter of the financial ending Dec 31, 2008, fell 40% to RM42.07 million from a year earlier, due mainly to “lower trading revenue from the equity market as a result of investor caution towards escalating subprime related issues and recent local political issues”.

In an announcement yesterday, it said that the country’s equity market had dipped and remained lacklustre following the country’s general elections on March 8, 2008.

“Developments on the local political front are expected to continue to influence the market performance in the remaining quarters although underlying economic and business fundamentals remain intact,” it said.

It said the equity market recorded a velocity for on-market trades (OMT) of 46% (1Q07: 68%) and a daily avearge trading value for OMT and direct business trades (DBT) of RM2.0 billion (1Q07: RM2.8b).

Bursa’s revenue for the first three months of FY08 fell 25.6% to RM101.26 million from RM136.09 million a year earlier. Earnings per share stood at 8 sen.

Meanwhile, it said market capitalisation of Malaysian stocks stood at RM1.11 trillion as at Dec 31, 2007, up from RM0.85 trillion a year earlier.

—theedgedaily,