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.
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...