Friday March 4, 2005 - BURSA Malaysia Bhd chairman Tun Mohamed DzaiddinAbdullah said the exchange’s implementation of a common trading platformby the second quarter of this year will boost the derivatives market.

He said the platform for derivatives trading, to be launched in the secondquarter of this year, would support continuous trading, improve orderexecution and generally enhance operational efficiency.

In his opening remarks at the Annual Palm and Lauric Oils Conference andExhibition, Dzaiddin said with high volatility in crude palm oil prices,buyers and sellers of palm oil and palm-based products would needeffective hedging instruments.

"Bursa Malaysia, a consolidated, demutualised exchange offeringdiversified investments in equities, derivatives and offshore instruments,provides such risk management tools," he added.

He also noted that Bursa Malaysia Derivatives currently offered crude palmoil (CPO) futures contract, launched in 1980 and crude palm kernel oilcontract, launched in 2004.

These futures contracts have been carefully designed for the oils and fatsindustry to hedge against adverse price changes.

"The CPO futures market is the preferred benchmark for the pricing of palmoil and its products worldwide," he said.

He said Bursa Malaysia would continue to enhance the breadth and depth ofinvestment instruments in offering an internationally competitive andefficient marketplace for investment and fund raising. – AFX-Asia