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.
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...