Myanmar launches first shares on fledgling bourse

A F P - Myanmar launched its first stock exchange with just one listed company yesterday, with hopes the move could aid the country’s economic rise as it emerges from decades of isolationist military rule. The Southeast Asian nation is in the midst of a dramatic transition from a graft-soaked backwater to a vibrant emerging economy, with Aung San SuuKyi’s party days away from forming a civilian government.

The Yangon Stock Exchange off i c i a l l y opened for trading, twenty years after it had first been conceived, with the clang of a bell and cheers from a business elite who are hungry for investment. MaungMaungThein, head of Myanmar ’s Securities and Exchange Commission, said it marked a “great day” for the country, which would now leave the tiny club of nations without a functioning stock exchange.

“We can now proudly and mightily proclaim to the world that we are no longer a backward nation,” he told an assembled crowd of business leaders at the YSX’s restored colonial era building in downtown Yangon. SuuKyi’s incoming g o v e r nme n t w i l l n e x t w e e k r e p l a c e a t r a n s i t i o n a l administration of retired generals who oversaw five years of political and economic reforms that pumped life back into the resource-rich country of 51 million people. But significant hurdles lie ahead in a nation that still lacks a credit rating and is grappling with entrenched corruption and widespread poverty.

YSX started trading w i t h j u s t a s i n g l e firm, First Myanmar Investment, which is one of the country’s largest companies with stakes in the aviation and health industries. With its sister firm Yoma Strategic Holdings l i s ted in Singapore, and with around 6,800 shareholders through an in-house system, FMI already has experience of stock trading, a rarity in Myanmar. Shares began trading at a base price of 26,000 kyat each ($21.50) yesterday. Several other firms approved to list, including the Japan-backed Thilawa Special Economic Zone, have yet to finalise their preparations.

The bourse is currently open only to domestic investors and firms, although there are plans to allow foreign involvement in the future.

“We look forward to a buoyant economy and we look forward to a robust Yangon Stock Exchange that will help many companies in Myanmar access capital and build their companies,” said Myanmar tycoon Serge Pun, who runs FMI, at the opening ceremony. The stock market has been greeted with enthusi a sm by local investors.But with little practical experience of shareholding, dozens of people every week have flocked to classes run by YSX to learn about the risks and rewards of trading. “I have learned a lot from books because I think that a stock market is good for our country,” said SoeMyint, 64, a retired officer from Ministry of Energy who had arrived at the YSX hoping to buy FMI shares.