This high performance was maintained during a period when there was increased corporate activities relating to capital raising, take-overs, establishment of new unit trust funds and licensing applications. In tandem with the encouraging stock market performance, there was a 30 per cent increase in corporate submissions received by the SC during the second quarter of 2007.

There was a significant growth of 109 per cent in the number of applications approved by the SC for establishment of new unit trust funds during the quarter. The rise in new fund applications is attributable to several factors including the faster approval process under a disclosure-based regime, the bullish domestic stock market, Bank Negara Malaysia's liberalisation for unit trusts' investments abroad since April 2007 and an increased demand for a wider range of unit trust products.

Generally positive market sentiments also impacted on capital-raising activities with a 33 per cent increase in capital-raising proposals such as private placements and rights issues, and a doubling in the number of take-over offers considered and cleared by the SC respectively. During the second quarter, licensing applications registered a growth of 23 per cent.

Capital market statistics released by the SC cover information on processing, approvals and rejections of submissions, including timing and reasons. In addition to these scorecard indicators, the periodic quarterly statistics of submissions approved by the SC for the second quarter of 2007 were also reported.

The full series of capital market statistics released by the SC is set out below.