KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
Maintain HOLD with new target price (TP) of RM56.20 Dutch Lady’s 9M16 earnings of RM111.3m came in below expectation, making up only 68% of our full year forecast. Earnings fell 3.9% YTD mainly due to higher cost of sales and continued investments in support of the brand. Uptrend in milk prices putting pressure on company bottom line. We revised our FY16 and FY17 earnings forecast downwards to RM150.4m and RM163.7m respectively. Hold call retained with new target price of RM56.20. YTD earnings drop. Dutch Lady recorded a 9M16 revenue growth of 6.2% to RM776.1m due mainly to launch of the newly improved formula for Friso powdered milk which is specially targeted for children and introduction of Ready to Drink (RTD) UHT 125ml milk with Disney Marvel and Frozen character packaging. However, earnings dropped 3.9% YTD to RM111.3m from RM115.8m driven by i) higher costs of sales, and ii) greater advertising and promotion expenses in support of the brand as well as ...