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.
Reaffirm BUY with an unchanged target price (TP) of RM4.84 INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Bhd (STMB)’s 1QFY17 PAZTAMI of RM56.8m (+23%yoy) was within ours and consensus expectations Family Takaful continued to support the growth in 1QFY17 earnings As the result is within our estimates, we make no changes to our existing forecast numbers Hence we reiterate our BUY recommendation with an unchanged TP of RM4.84 per share 1QFY17 PAZTAMI met expectations. Despite challenging macroeconomic condition, STMB has continued to deliver solid PAZTAMI performance in 1QFY17, where it grew +23.0%yoy to RM56.8m. The increase was as a result of higher Wakalah fee income of RM186.3m (+13.0%yoy) to the Group and its portfolio rebalancing strategy to reduce exposure in risky assets. Overall, the reported earnings came in line with ours (at 29.1%) and consensus’ (at 29.5%) expectations. Strong 1QFY17 earnings growth in t...