KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed higher, buoyed by Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) decision to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 2.75 per cent, alongside positive cues from Wall Street. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 19.30 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 1,635.86 from Wednesday’s close of 1,616.56. The benchmark index opened 6.72 points higher at 1,623.28, and fluctuated between an intraday high of 1,642.44 and a low of 1,622.62 during the trading session. However, market breadth was negative, with losers outnumbering gainers 723 to 497, while 466 counters were unchanged, 1,075 untraded and 10 suspended. Turnover rose to 3.74 billion units valued at RM3.61 billion compared with yesterday’s 2.81 billion units valued at RM2.57 billion.
Highlights Loan growth is guided at 6-8% in FY16 (vs 6.8% achieved in FY15), underpinned by the consumer segment (in particularly, hire purchase and mortgage financing). NIM to remain under pressure. Following a 13bps decline in NIM in FY15, management expects NIM to remain under pressure in FY16 as competition for deposits remains intense for the first 2 months of FY16 (and it sees possibility of deposit competition intensifying further in the coming months). While management has plans to expand its CASA base (from 19.2% FY15) through various initiatives, we believe such plans may be challenging to yield favourable result amidst the current tight liquidity environment. Asset quality to improve from FY16. The AQ deterioration in FY15 (evidenced by higher GIL ratio and credit cost) came largely from the SME segment and contract financing. While operating environment will likely remain challenging, management expects its asset quality to improve (with cre...