By LOONG TSE MIN and YVONNE TAN
PETALING JAYA: Analysts generally remain bullish on the Malaysian market, with most setting 12-month targets above the 1,500-point level for the KL Composite Index.
Credit Suisse country head and head of research Stephen Hagger told StarBiz his research house’s country strategy report was not yet out but that it was “safe to say that we remain positive on the (Malaysian) market”.
TA Securities in its market strategy report dated Oct 7 reiterated its bullish view on the market with a 12-month target of 1,520.
The brokerage is maintaining a “buy” call on the market with a view to increasing exposure in “undervalued big cap stocks with strong earnings growth prospects”.
TA also likes “domestic plays that will benefit from the Government’s pump priming measures and FDI inflow into various economic corridors”, as well as “the bottom-up approach on lower and second liners that will catch up with the big caps due to the valuation gap”.
Citigroup said its latest equity strategy report could have given the impression that the company was underweight on Malaysia and clarified that Citigroup head of research in Malaysia Choong Wai Kee had only advocated going defensive in light of possible de-rating and higher risk premiums.
A company spokesman said in an e-mail yesterday, “We thought we would clarify that while he is asking investors to go defensive in light of possible de-rating and higher risk premiums, Malaysia still remains an overweight in Citi’s Asia-Pacific weightings.”
Citigroup said in the report dated Wednesday that it expected the Malaysian market to drift lower “until valuations become compelling again”.
The bank has a 12-month target of 1,547 points, implying a year-end target of 1,425 points, a 1.9% upside from current levels.
Citigroup is “overweight” on the plantation and telecom sectors, “neutral” on banking and media and “underweight” on construction and property. It recommended a defensive strategy focusing on stocks with a reasonable yield.
OSK Investment Bank head of research Kenny Yee when contacted by StarBiz said: “We maintain our year-end target of 1,500 for the KLCI, which we have had since the middle of the year.”
Yee said OSK’s strategy report was still in the works but that “we (Malaysia) are still shielded from crude oil price spikes and the strengthening ringgit is a positive factor for the Malaysian equity market”.
No comments:
Post a Comment