KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia rebounded to close higher on Wednesday on selective buying of defensive stocks after a volatile trading session. IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said consumer products and services stocks lifted the key index higher, overcoming lingering geopolitical concerns. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 3.08 points to 1,715.56 from yesterday’s close of 1,712.48. The benchmark index, which opened 1.91 points higher at 1,714.39, moved between 1,710.79 and 1,720.59 during the day’s trading. In the broader market, gainers outstripped decliners 550 to 476, while 612 counters were unchanged, 1,129 untraded, and 48 suspended. Turnover rose to 2.96 billion units valued at RM2.48 billion from 2.94 billion units valued at RM2.56 billion on Tuesday.
Retain HOLD call with a higher target price (TP) of RM85.73 Highlights We attended Nestle’s 1Q17 briefing and came away feeling neutral on the company’s prospects going forward. Nestle anticipates half of revenue growth in FY17 will be driven by new product launches, in particular, the launch of new varieties of KitKat chocolates. We share management’s optimism on its new KitKat products, given: (1) its lion share in Malaysia’s chocolate product market which market share has grown from 14.4% in 2013 to 16.8% in 2016 (and overtook Cadbury as Malaysia’s most popular chocolate); (2) Majority of Malaysian consumers (two-third, according to a Nielsen report) prefer new and innovative products from brands that are familiar to them. Additionally, we believe that the launch of the Kit Kat confectionary store in Mid Valley in late-2016 (where consumers can customize KitKat chocolate bars with up to 10,000 combinations) will serve as its marketing base (apart from allowing N...