Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 4): Foreign shareholding in CIMB Group Holdings Bhd rose to 26.9% in August 2022, the highest on record since the Covid-19 pandemic's onset in April 2020, according to the banking group's latest update.

CIMB, whose foreign shareholding data dates back to 2010, said its foreign shareholding rose to 26.9% in August 2022 from 25.6% a month earlier.

Compared to a year earlier, CIMB's August 2022 foreign shareholding climbed from 22.4% in August 2021, it said.

CIMB has around 10.47 billion outstanding shares, according to its Bursa Malaysia filing on Sept 14, 2022.

At 26.9%, CIMB's August 2022 foreign shareholding was the highest on record since the Covid-19 pandemic's onset in April 2020 when the figure stood at 26.3%, according to the financial services provider.

Since 2010, CIMB's lowest foreign shareholding on record was registered at 20.3% in May 2021 while the highest figure was 42.9% in June 2011, CIMB said.

CIMB, which is a constituent of the 30-stock FBM KLCI, is also a component of Bursa's Financial Services Index.

At 26.9%, CIMB's foreign shareholding appears to be among the highest among several KLCI constituents tracked by theedgemarkets.com.

The KLCI constituents tracked include Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Axiata Group Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd and Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, all of which provide regular updates on their foreign shareholdings on their respective websites.

Maybank stated that its foreign shareholding as at July 2022 stood at 17.69% while Petronas Dagangan said its foreign shareholding was registered at 7.61% as at July 2022.

Axiata, a mobile telecommunication network provider, said its foreign shareholding as at August 2022 was 11%, while Sime Darby Plantation indicated that its foreign shareholding stood at 10.74% as at August 2022.

KLCI constituents include Top Glove Corp Bhd, which had in May 2022 told theedgemarkets.com that its foreign shareholding had been stable at "around the 35% range" then.

At Bursa on Tuesday (Oct 4), CIMB's share price rose 10 sen or 1.95% to RM5.22 at 4.20pm, valuing the group at about RM54.65 billion based on its estimated 10.47 billion outstanding shares.

Over the last two years, CIMB's share price had increased to current levels from its closing share price at RM2.95 on Nov 3, 2020, during which the broader market was still contending with the critical situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to global movement restrictions to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Such sentiment had led to investors' expectation of slower global economic growth then.

However, the situation now is different as Covid-19 vaccine-driven optimism led to anticipation that the Covid-19 outbreak can be curbed, hence the reopening of international borders in tandem with the easing of Covid-19-led movement restrictions.

As global communities welcome the easing of Covid-19-led movement restrictions, they are now beset with a new set of challenges.

Global inflation, interest rate hikes and Russia-Ukraine war sentiments have led to a depreciation in world currencies including the ringgit against a strengthening US dollar, which saw higher demand from investors seeking higher returns from US interest rate hikes and as they sought safety in the US dollar, which is deemed a haven in times of geopolitical uncertainties.

On Tuesday, CGS-CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd analyst Ivy Ng Lee Fang wrote in a note that the KLCI had last week fallen 2.1% week-on-week (w-o-w) due to rising concerns over global recession due to interest rate hikes to curb inflation.

"The best-performing sectors last week were REIT (real estate investment trust), healthcare and consumer. Foreign investors were the only net sellers of Malaysian equities for the second consecutive week," Ng said.

CIMB shares were not spared as foreign investors raised their net sale value of Malaysian equities by 31% w-o-w to its highest year-to-date at RM739.4 million last week, she said.

"We are of the view that this could be due to rising concerns over the weak ringgit and weak global market sentiment. Last week, they were net sellers in the financial services and industrial products sectors, with Public Bank Bhd, CIMB and RHB Bank Bhd as their top three net sell stocks.

"Local institutions were (however) net buyers of the financial services and industrial products sectors; their top three net buy stocks were Public Bank, CIMB and RHB Bank," she said.

Earlier, analysts from Bursa's research arm Bursa Digital Research wrote in a note dated Sept 20, 2022 that 15 research firms had "buy" calls for CIMB shares, five had "hold" recommendations while one had a "sell" call.

"This analyst consensus compilation is based on Aug (2022) result season of the top 7 companies of Bursa's Financial Services Index," Bursa said.

According to Bursa, research firms covering CIMB shares had target prices (TPs) ranging from RM5.50 to RM7 for the stock. The median TP for CIMB shares was RM6.30.

Edited ByChong Jin Hun
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