KUALA LUMPUR (March 4): AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank) saw its fortunes reversed today, as its share price rose as much as 5.36% or 15 sen to RM2.95 at 11.35am on bargain hunting, after closing down 11.4% or 36 sen to RM2.80 — its lowest in four months — yesterday.

The counter saw 12.94 million shares traded and had a market capitalisation of RM8.86 billion.

AmBank's share price climbed higher shortly after opening bell — it opened three sen higher at RM2.83.

Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd analyst Ng Jun Sheng wrote in a note yesterday that the knee-jerk sell-off towards the RM2.63 to RM2.80 level provided a good bargain-hunting opportunity for the stock.

"All in all, 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) is a legacy issue, and we believe AmBank is capable of weathering the storm and being successful again in rolling out long-term business strategies, rebuilding its image, and eventually shaking off any negative perception," he said.

AmBank's share price resumed trading yesterday after a two-day suspension. Its share price tumbled by as much as 53 sen or 16.8% against the previous closing of RM3.16 last Friday, following the financial services provider's announcement on Friday (Feb 26) regarding its 1MDB-linked RM2.83 billion global settlement proposal.

AmBank has a price-to-book value of 0.50 times after adjusting for the RM2.83 billion global settlement, making it the second lowest among the Bursa-listed banks after Affin Bank Bhd, which is trading at 0.36 times.

The announcement of the global settlement has prompted some analysts to downgrade their calls on AmBank. As of Wednesday, Bloomberg showed that there were six "sell" calls on AmBank, four "buy" recommendations, and seven "hold" calls.

In contrast, on Friday (Feb 26), the majority, or 11 of them, had "buy" calls on AmBank.