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 PERFORM with lower target price (TP) of RM14.30 9M16 core net profit of RM157.9m (+2.6% YoY) missed our (66%) and market (66%) expectations. As expected, no DPS was declared. Weakness in Sri Lanka is not a big concern as production has resumed and earnings contribution is not too high. Outlook remains challenging on the back soft of consumer sentiment. FY16E/FY17E earnings trimmed by 7%/3%. Maintain MARKET PERFORM on CARLSBG with lower TP of RM14.30 (from RM14.70). 9M16 below expectations. 9M16 core net profit of RM157.9m (+2.6% YoY) was below expectations, accounting for 66% of our in-house forecast and 65% of consensus. The negative deviation can be attributed to the weaker-than-expected performance in Sri Lankan operations. Note that 9M15 core net profit has been adjusted for impairment loss of RM12.5m arising from the divestment of Luen Heng F&B Sdn Bhd (LHFB) in May 2015. No DPS was declared, as expected. YoY, the Group reported...