KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): AMMB Holdings Bhd fell as much as 37 sen or 6% on broader market losses and after news reports alleged 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had channelled some US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's bank accounts.
 
Yesterday (July 7), a special task force comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, besides the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Royal Malaysian Police and Attorney General’s Chambers, froze six bank accounts under its probe on 1MDB and Najib.

The Malaysian Insider, quoting sources, reported three of the frozen accounts were Najib's, involving AmBank and Affin Bank. AMMB (fundamental : 1.7; valuation: 3) owns AmBank.

Today, AMMB's shares fell to its lowest so far at RM5.33, before paring losses. At 12:30pm, the shares settled at RM5.39 for a market capitalisation of RM16.25 billion, with some three million units traded.

AMMB was the fourth-largest decliner on Bursa Malaysia. For comparison, the FBM KLCI fell 13.69 points or 0.8% to settle at 1,698.61.

AMMB shares had fallen 18% this year, underperforming the FBM KLCI's 4% decline.

The broader market fell on Malaysian political uncertainties, Greece’s debt crisis and China’s stock market plunge.

Remisiers told theedgemarkets.com that the 1MDB-Najib investigation had dented investors' confidence in the Malaysian market.

“It is because of the Najib issue. People don’t have much confidence, so they take this opportunity to protect their wealth," the remisier said.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)