KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): Shares in Bursa Malaysia Bhd climbed as much as 18 sen or 1.65% in early trade after a slew of measures were revealed to boost trading on the exchange.

The stock hit an intraday record high of RM11.02 today before paring some gains to trade at RM10.98 at 3.05pm, with 868,600 shares done.

On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that a stock trading link would be established between Bursa Malaysia and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) this year.

The prime minister also announced several new measures to boost trading on the local stock market including the waiver of stamp duties on trading of small- and mid-cap companies, margin financing rules would be liberalised, and intraday short selling would be allowed.

Although most analysts viewed the developments as positive for the local bourse, few revised their target prices or made changes to their recommendations on the stock.

According to Bloomberg data, six analysts have a buy recommendation on Bursa Malaysia and seven recommend holding the stock, with a consensus trailing twelve-month target price of RM11.10 for 14 analysts.

CIMB Research said in a Feb 6 note that the measures could be mildly positive for the stock exchange as they could increase the bourse's trade value, though the impact would not be significant in the near term.