KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 4): Bursa Malaysia Bhd and the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) have signed an agreement to share macroeconomic data with the aim of identifying key trends and insights to further develop the capital market.
DOSM will share demographic and macroeconomic statistics and reports with Bursa Malaysia, in exchange for access to the latter’s database related to the companies listed on the exchange, including trading statistics.
Under the terms of the agreement, both DOSM and Bursa Malaysia will have the opportunity to conduct joint exploration on areas of mutual interest towards the development of the capital market.
“This collaboration would result in significant synergies between both parties to further develop the capital market landscape, while creating new initiatives to enhance investor participation in our market,” said Bursa Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift at the signing ceremony on Wednesday (Jan 4).
DOSM chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the data partnership will enable DOSM to assess the economic climate, make better decisions to grow its services and be even more competitive.
“The Bursa Malaysia data is very important because it contributes to the Leading Index, which is a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns on an average of four to six months ahead.
“This index is published monthly and widely used by economic analysts to make future economic forecasts,” said Mohd Uzir.
Data sharing
Some of the key data that will be shared by Bursa Malaysia to DOSM are daily and monthly trading volume according to sector data, aggregated investors’ demographic data, and public-listed companies’ (PLCs’) annual reports.
“Bursa and DOSM can look at it from a management standpoint and economic and macroeconomic view. It doesn’t really go into the individual details of investors.
“Before this collaboration, we catered to DOSM’s needs on an ad-hoc basis. With this agreement, now we have a structured plan on giving this data to DOSM on a regular basis,” said Wong Chiun Chiek, head of data business at Bursa Malaysia.
Wong added that this agreement is part of Bursa Malaysia’s data acquisition roadmap to enhance capital market datasets with micro and macroeconomic data, leveraging on DOSM’s outreach and statistical capabilities.
“This agreement complements Bursa Malaysia’s access of corporate Malaysia data from the Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM), thereby providing the exchange with a unique and comprehensive database to facilitate the development of new products and services to the industry, as well as support and expedite the ESG agenda.”
Bursa Malaysia’s current commercial customers to its data as service business are fund managers, brokers’ platform and research outfits.
According to Bursa Malaysia’s 2021 annual report, revenue contribution from Bursa Data Business (BDB), formerly known as Business Analytics and Information Services, increased by 12.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM54.0 million from RM48.1 million in 2020, owing to growing demand from subscribers for applied trade and ESG-related insights and information, which are then used to generate in-depth insights and analyses to support investment decisions.
“The key message is we have collaborated with SSM and DOSM with the specific objective of single source data for better decision making by the government, as well as all participants and stakeholders of the economy.
“But as we go forward, we will then look at how this data can be applied to solve problems. Of course when we solve problems, we will charge,” said Muhammad Umar.
DOSM to forecast economic direction with greater accuracy
The right statistics reduces blindspots, says Mohd Uzir, adding that the collaboration with the exchange extends beyond just data sharing.
The joint effort between these two parties also includes providing training and briefing related to the collection, as well as interpretation and dissemination of official statistics issued by both parties.
“Bursa Malaysia has the expertise to analyse how the capital market functions and DOSM may not have such great insight into these markets. With their expertise, DOSM looks into adding value to our regular statistics publication,” said Mohd Uzir.
He added that Bursa Malaysia’s data also helps DOSM to monitor the direction of the economy in the short term, which is reflected through listed companies’ performance in the stock exchange.
“Bursa Malaysia data is critical because it is used as input to look into Malaysia’s Economic Indicators, that provides a forecast of the direction of economic movement, from four to six months on average,” said Mohd Uzir.
Bursa Malaysia assures members of the investing public that individual participant’s trading data is not part of this agreement and will not be made public.