Bursa Malaysia Stock Exchange

The Bursa Malaysia or as it is better known as the Malaysia Exchange (MYX), previously called the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange goes back to 1930. It was that year that the Singapore Stockbrokers’ Association was set up as a formal organisation dealing specifically with securities in Malaya. Several years later it was registered again as the Malayan Stockbrokers’ Association, but it still did not incorporate public shares trading.

The Malayan Stock Exchange was formed in 1960 with the public trading of shares beginning May of that year. A year later the Board system was introduced, which is made up of two trading rooms, one in Kuala Lumpur and the other in Singapore. These two trading rooms were linked directly by telephone lines into one market, with similar shares and stocks listed as one set of prices on both boards.

The Stock Exchange of Malaysia was formed officially in 1964 and the common stock exchange continued to work under the name of Stock Exchange of Malaysia and Singapore (SEMS). In 1973 the SEMS was split into The Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) and The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Bhd (KLSEB). Then in 1994 it was given the new name of Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. Ten years later it was re-named Bursa Malaysia and in 2005 it was listed in its own exchange.

Top companies listed with the stock exchange include Antah, Kbunai, Iris, Tenaga and Gamuda. Malaysia has a small and quite an open economy. In 2005, Malaysia was considered the 33rd biggest economy in the world due to its purchasing power parity. Its gross domestic product for that year was estimated to be around about $290 billion.

Over the years Malayasia has become one of the top world producers of rubber, tin and palm oil. During the 70’s, Malaysia changed its reliance on mining and agriculture to reliance on manufacturing. With the support and assistance of the West and Japan, heavy industries were able to grow in a few years, making Malaysian exports the country’s main growth engine. In the 1980s and 1990s Malaysia continued to produce more then 7% GDP growth with low inflation.

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