Bursa rises to 6-month high

Bursa Malaysia Bhd, the nation's stock and derivatives exchange
operator, rose to a six-month high after brokerages including Credit
Suisse Group AG raised their share-price estimates to reflect better
growth prospects.

The stock gained 1.1 per cent to RM7.60, its
highest close since Aug. 1. It earlier climbed as much as 2.7 per cent.
Fourth-quarter net income rose 5.2 per cent to RM31.3 million, bolstered
by higher trading revenue on the derivatives market, it said in a
statement yesterday.

"Bursa's earnings are highly leveraged to
improving market activity, with January 2012 volumes boding well," Arjan
van Veen, an analyst at Credit Suisse, wrote in a report today. "Bursa
has capacity to lift pricing as well as utilize the current excess
capital on its balance sheet." He raised his price estimate to RM7.50
from RM6.94 and kept his "neutral" rating.

The average daily
trading volume on the Southeast Asian nation's stock exchange jumped 20
per cent to 1.8 billion shares in the past three months compared with
the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Trading volume surged to 4.4 billion shares at the close on Feb. 8, the
highest since February 2007. Derivatives trading also grew, led by palm
oil futures.

CIMB Group Holdings Bhd increased its price
estimate for Bursa to RM7.65 from RM7.18, while Kenanga Investment Bank
Bhd raised its target price to RM8 from RM7.40, they said in separate
reports today. Chan Ken Yew, an analyst at Kenanga, increased his 2012
earnings estimates by 5.3 per cent and 13 per cent for 2013.

The
stock exchange operator's 2012 profit may be similar to last year's "if
not better," Bursa Chief Executive Officer Tajuddin Atan told reporters
in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The bourse is open to strategic alliances to
boost market access and improve efficiency, he said, without giving
details.

Shares of Bursa have gained 13 per cent this year,
outpacing a 2 per cent increase in the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia
KLCI Index. -- Bloomberg