Friday 26 Apr 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 26): Shares in Public Bank Bhd were sold down as much as 40 sen or 1.6% to RM24.50 today after the group posted a 1.5% decline in its net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2018 (3QFY18) to RM1.38 billion compared to RM1.4 billion a year ago.

This pushed the counter to become the top decliner on the stock exchange today, although it later pared losses to trade at RM24.52 with 1.65 million shares traded as at 10.44am.

In a note this morning, Affin Hwang Capital Research had downgraded the stock to 'hold' from 'buy', citing a weaker outlook for the bank's net interest margins and slower loan growth.

The research house lowered its target price for Public Bank to RM23.50 from RM26.30.

Public Bank had cited higher operating expenditure, lower gains from financial instruments and the absence of a one-off capital gain on investment as the reason for its lower profit in 3QFY18.

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