Ample liquidity in local stock market, says BIMB Invest

by **Cals** Sun 15 Nov 2015, 02:10

Ample liquidity in local stock market, says BIMB Invest

By Danial Idraki / The Edge Financial Daily | November 13, 2015 : 9:43 AM MYT

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 13, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: [size=16]BIMB Investment Management Bhd (BIMB Invest), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd ([You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Valuation: 2.20, Fundamental: 2.70), said there are still ample liquidity in the market despite economic uncertainty.

Its chief executive officer Najmuddin Lutfi expects the fourth quarter of 2015 to be challenging for the market in anticipation of an interest rate increase by the US Federal Reserve in December.

“[Nevertheless], our [economic] growth is still in the positive region of about 4%, and there is ample liquidity in the market in both the retail and corporate segments,” he told a press conference after launching the country’s first multi-currency syariah and environmental, social, and governance compliant global equity fund in partnership with London-based Arabesque Asset Management Holdings Ltd yesterday.

BIMB Invest is eyeing a 40% growth in 2016 for the new fund, dubbed the “BIMB-Arabesque i Global Dividend Fund 1”, with a targeted 6% annual income payout.

“The fund is targeted at corporate and individual investors seeking capital appreciation while diversifying their investments abroad, and investors can choose to subscribe to the fund in ringgit or US dollars,” said Najmuddin.

“This [fund] is for the long term, and for Malaysia, we are trying to position ourselves as the Islamic finance market in the international marketplace, so it is natural to offer [the product] in US dollar as well,” he added.

BIMB Invest chairman Datuk Seri Zukri Samat said to date, the company’s asset under management (AUM) stood at RM810 million, with investments across equities, sukuk and cash.

Its AUM has seen a compounded annual growth rate of 21.83% over the last five years.

The minimum initial investment required for the BIMB-Arabesque i Global Dividend Fund 1 is RM30,000 or US$10,000. The fund’s units are priced at 50 sen or 50 US cent each.

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