THE Malaysian capital market grew marginally to RM3.2 tril in 2019 from RM3.1 tril the previous year, according to the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), with debt securities outstanding and equity market capitalisation of RM1.5 tril and RM1.7 tril respectively (2018: RM1.4 tril and RM1.7 tril respectively).
“Over the year, the domestic capital market continued to play an important role in financing the Malaysian economy,” the SC said in its 2019 Annual Report.
According to the regulator, the Malaysian capital market registered a higher level of fundraising activities during the year, with total funds raised in the bond and equity market amounting to RM139.4 bil in 2019 compared to RM114.6 bil in 2018.
Alternative fundraising avenues, especially in the equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer financing space, gained traction with total funds raised more than doubling to RM443.8 mil (2018: RM195.9 mil), the SC added.
A total of RM132.8 bil was raised in the corporate bond and sukuk market compared to RM105.4 bil in 2018, with issuances mainly in utilities and financial services. Sukuk made up 77.1% of total bond issuances in 2019, the regulator said.
Meanwhile, RM6.6 bil was raised via the equity market (2018: RM9.2 bil), of which RM2 bil was through new equity listings with a total of 30 initial public offerings and RM4.6 bil raised via secondary fundraising. In 2019, four companies were listed on the Main Market, 11 companies on the ACE Market, and the remaining on the LEAP Market.
According to the SC, the size of issuances via the LEAP Market grew by 60.6% year-on-year to RM92.2 mil in 2019 (2018: RM57.4 mil). – April 16, 2020
