Higher Asb Dividend Aided By Good Performance By Local Sectors, Global Investment - Bank Muamalat

By Abdul Hamid A Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- The Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) income distribution to unitholders for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) was higher compared with the previous year due to the better performance in several local sectors and the global investment climate.

Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB), a wholly-owned unit trust management company of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), has declared an income distribution of 5.25 sen a unit for its flagship fund for FY2023.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said local sectors such as property and construction as well as medium and small capitalised companies had recorded satisfactory performance and contributed to the increase in ASNB’s income.

"The dividend performance for this year for ASB unit trust managed by ASNB showed a commendable improvement compared with last year, even though the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) registered a decline of 2.5 per cent year-to-date.

"The Property and Construction Indices showed a rise of 33.1 per cent and 23.5 per cent respectively, while the FBM Mid 70 and FBM Small Cap recorded an increasing trend of 11.6 per cent and 8.6 per cent," he told Bernama.

Apart from that, Mohd Afzanizam said that the strategy for investment in the international market also made a positive contribution to ASNB’s portfolio performance.

"The key global indices recorded a significant increase. For instance, (in the United States) the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 22.4 per cent and 41.2 per cent respectively. Hence, this provided strong support to the investment performance of ASB," he said.

He expects the equity market to be continuously challenging in the future.

"Nevertheless, the anticipation of interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve is expected to boost the market.  

"This is because the cut in interest rate would help the global economy with the reduction in financing cost and stimulate economic activities through capital spending," he said.

Additionally, Mohd Afzanizam reckons that sectors such as renewable energy and technology are expected to be the main drivers of the financial market.

As for the FBM KLCI, he said the market bellwether is projected to see an uptrend due to its low valuation which would attract interest from foreign investors.

"On the back of the government’s budget that is still expanding and efforts for economic reforms, this would certainly attract foreign investors’ attention to invest in shares that are considered as undervalued in the local market," he added.

-- BERNAMA