The government today brushed aside criticism that the local share market Bursa Malaysia was not as active as others in the region.

Finance Ministry's Parliamentary Secretary Dr Hilmi Yahya said Bursa Malaysia's "slow and steady" development was indeed good for the country.

Hilmi also said the Malaysian stock exchange was more stable compared to the other bourses in the region.

This, he added, was due to the fact that most of the shareholders trading in Bursa Malaysia were institutions which did not simply trade off their shares.

"They will have to study in detail before they decide to sell-off their shares and these major institutions are a factor that contribute to the stability," Hilmi told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He also said that another factor for a stable Bursa Malaysia was the lower influx of foreign fund, which only stood at about 15 percent.

Comparatively, Thailand's bourse has about 50 percent foreign fund while Indonesia between 30 and 40 percent.

"This means foreign fund can diminish or increase quickly and creating more volatility as compared to (the stability) in Malaysia," he argued.

He was replying to a question from Abdul Rahim Bakri (BN-Kudat) as to why the Bursa Malaysia was not as active as compared to the others in the region.

Off the radar scales

The backbenchers said that composite indexes from a few neighbouring countries have exceeded their pre-Asian financial crisis high.

Hilmi expressed confidence that the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) will continue to climb up to reach its pre-Asian financial crisis high, which was at about 1,300 points.

The KLCI breached the 1,000 mark early last month and touched 1,080.66 points on Nov 30 - the highest since 1997.

"(It is) slow and steady but it is good for us," Hilmi stressed.

Financial giant Citigroup in a report released recently also voiced concerns over the KLCI which was still below its pre-Asian financial crisis high.

This despite other Asian markets like Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea having already recovered from the crisis, the report said.

The group also said Malaysia was "quickly dropping from the radar screens of global investors" and it must employ various measures to address the crisis.