Bursa Trade Securities on Dec 1, 2008

Bernama: Bursa Malaysia Bhd is expected to launch its new trading platform for the securities market called Bursa Trade Securities on Dec 1, 2008. Its chief executive officer Datuk Yusli Mohamed Yusoff said the new trading platform will mark the completion of the exchange’s integrated trading system that will provide greater accessibility for both local and international investors as well as enhance trading efficiency and transparency in the market. RM100 million has been invested on the new system.

Yusli said the new trading system is a scalable platform that has the potential to support future initiatives and innovative products such as multi-currency products. He said the introduction of Bursa Trade Securities will also enable the implementation of Direct Market Access (DMA) for equities which should be operational next year.

Yusli also added that the date Dec 1, 2008 is the target date subject to a successful pre-live implementation on the Saturday of November 29. Bursa Trade (refer here for more details of its features) was supposed to be implemented on July 28 but was subsequently postponed due to unknown reasons, four days before it went live.(refer here)

* Hell and high water for Filipino seamen-interesting read here (Piracy and hijacking occurrence in East Africa at all time high 2008 to date: 96, 2007: 31, 2006: 10)

* FT.com: The official measure of consumer prices for the UK last month dropped 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to a lower than expected annual rate of 4.5 per cent, down from 5.2 per cent in September. The fall in inflation was the first in 15 months and the largest one-month drop since the Consumer Price Index began in 1997.

* BT(Singapore): HKMA steps into the HK market twice this morning injecting about USD600m to stem an appreciating HKD.

* FT.com: China has finally overtaken Japan as the largest foreign holder of US government debt. The latest monthly Treasury International Capital (Tic) data showed that China’s holdings of Treasury bills, notes and bonds rose to $585bn in September from $541.4bn in August. In contrast, Japan’s holdings fell to $573.2bn from $586bn. (previous article refer here-Panic, You sell, I sell)