KUALA LUMPUR (July 27): Bursa Malaysia Bhd’s share price logged another record high closing today amid expectations that the stock exchange will release a stellar set of quarterly results soon ⁠— if not tomorrow.

At the closing bell, Bursa gained 62 sen or 6.33% to an all-time high of RM10.42, making it the third top gainer in terms of value. At RM10.42, Bursa is valued at RM8.43 billion.

Over the course of just two weeks, two research firms — RHB Research and Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research — raised their target prices (TP) for Bursa to RM11.20 and RM9.84 respectively from RM7.30 and RM 8.95 previously.

The upgrades were largely hinged on the brisk trading volume of the local stock market that had not happened for more than 10 years. Analysts think Bursa is highly likely to be able to report record earnings for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020 (2QFY20) tomorrow.

Some analysts believe the exchange operator deserves a scarcity premium as it is among a few that are able to deliver earnings growth amid the Covid-19 pandemic that has taken a heavy toll on corporate earnings.

The daily trading volume breached the 10 billion mark with 11.61 billion units done today, marking the seventh instance of such a record since Bursa’s inception.

For this month alone, there are already been five trading days when trading volume exceeded 10 billion.

The brisk trading activities were largely attributable to a strong influx of retail investors which saw average year-to-date retail participation rose to about 34.1% against the 10-year average of 24%.