KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia’s key index finished marginally higher, supported by strong buying interest in consumer-related counters, amid mixed performance across regional markets. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 1.40 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 1,711.39 from Tuesday's close of 1,709.99. The key index opened 12.36 points firmer at 1,722.35 and moved between 1,711.31 and 1,722.63 throughout the session. Market breadth was negative, with losers leading gainers 678 to 493, while 549 counters were unchanged, 1,016 untraded and 34 suspended. Turnover increased to 4.50 billion units worth RM3.45 billion from 3.93 billion units worth RM3.45 billion on Tuesday.
As the goods and service tax (GST) is officially implemented in Malaysia 2014, most Malaysians will finally have to pay tax from all income level. Paying more taxes definitely not good news for almost everywhere through out the world, but there is very small good news to the income tax payers, whereas the income tax rate for the year 2015 will be reduced by few points basis. The winner again, will be the high income earner - which is those who are earning RM400K and above because their rate drop although they might still argue that they will pay a lot more in the form of GST. The following is the comparison of the income tax rate before the GST implementation vs the post-GST.