Maybank's new fund focuses on HK and Singapore

KUALA LUMPUR: Risk-averse investors now have the opportunity to cash in on the robust growth outlook of Asian economies, which are expected to continue to outperform the US economy over the next four years.

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) yesterday unveiled its latest structured product called the Precious Asian fund, a capital-guaranteed investment-linked plan it claimed to be the first one in the market that focused on Hong Kong and Singapore.

"This investment-linked plan is suitable for investors who believe that the Hong Kong and Singapore stock market will outperform the US (market) over the next few years,'' senior executive vice-president and head of consumer banking, Spencer Lee, told a media briefing yesterday.

The new RM350mil fund joins Maybank's portfolio of 13 conventional funds and four takaful funds totalling some RM3.3bil launched to date.

So far, the Precious Asian fund has attracted some RM70mil worth of investment, and will remain on sale till March 27.

The four-year term plan is expected to generate "good returns" from investments linked to a basket of two major Asian equity indices - the Hang Seng Index and the MSCI Singapore Cash Index - against the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.

Basically, the two Asian indices need to outperform the US benchmark during the four-year period for investors to reap the projected returns.

"At the end of the investment tenure, Precious Asian is expected to provide a potential return of 27.2%,'' Maybank said in a statement.

The latest fund is available at a minimum investment of RM15,000 that comes with financial protection feature underwritten by Etiqa Insurance Bhd.

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?f...25&sec=business

Who is the Public mutual agent? I'm intrested with the new Public Islamic Select Treasures Fund and would like to start invest..

UGPM :-)

looking at the current plunge in PM unit trusts, do you guys think it's a good time to put in more allocations in existing funds you've bought?

i'm talking about those who've bought their shares of UT at a relatively higher price than it is now, although personally i think it'll continue to drop for some time to come...

I do think that it will be a good time to put in more into ur UT funds with higher price.

However, instead of putting a big lump sum...it might be better for you to split it into smaller portion and continuously topping-up in fixed periodic manner, as the market is so unpredictable now...so timing the market is sometime not encouraged...

I agree with you. That investors:
- should put in more into UT fund to average down the cost and take a long term view.
- avoid putting a big lump sum
- should not attempt to time the market.

We might also want to consider the following:
- should only focus in funds that invest in sectors or countries with sound fundemental. For example, try to avoid funds that invest heavily in the USA for now and focus in emerging market such as South-East Asia, China/Hong Kong.
- Portfolio balancing - Ensure that your UT investment portfolio has proper diversification in bond/equity/region. Work with your UT agent to review your investment every quarter/half yearly. He/she will be able to advise you based on the market condition and your risk appetite.

if you don't understand english, stay back. Funds pricing is influenced by shares market, so this is related.

Well, do agree wif you that shares market correlate closely with Unit Trust Pricing.

However, if you come out n said that you expect KLCI to plunge till 900 points, it will be beneficial to actually support your claim with some of your views/facts/articles.

BTW, i hope every1 try not to flam or use rude comment...we all here to share...respect & peace

that's what i expect man, not what i said it will be. so don't be confused by the person who misinterpreted my previously posted msg... Just wait until this coming monday and see the KLCI market together

So you know English better than me huh? Well, congratulations!!
Before you proceed any further, please read my post and interpret what my meaning is
We would like to see 'expert' opinion, not just some 'guess-the-index' game.
Since you are so confident, then give your comments and not just leaving a random number here.
All market analysers are also giving their assumptions. Would they say "Index WILL hit 900" straight to your face?
As I don't mind you flaming me, but please remember I am ONLY asking you to elaborate further for others to comment on. Baseless assumptions are as useless as spams

Ah, I see a UTC. Thanks for your comment. I am not flaming you and I am not commenting about the index will drop to 900 points. If you don't see a point what I am typing, please go and read up. I am a no subject expert on this, so i said i EXPECT it to hit 900 points.

There is no point in discussing over this anymore as this is not the main point.
We should continue our unit trust discussion here.
Anything to do with stock market should go into the appropriate forum

wah klci 'might' plunge down to 900? hmmm so should i buy now? good time to buy after the election?

We won't know how would the GE affect this because this year's GE was extraordinary.
It is nothing we have experienced before, so we would wait and see rather than making wrong guesses.
About the market reaching 900 or not, it is solely the assumption of guanteik. To reach that level, something really bad must happen. If not, I do not see any worry for that
You may start accumulating slowly now which is advisable. The more the market drops, the more you could accumulate which will be good for you in the long term.

We should buy now after election everything will rise up i got 2 clients dumping 50k this week

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This post has been edited by MX510: Mar 10 2008, 06:18 AM

A contrarian I see. As of now the index has plunged 88 points, how could you say that equities will rise this week?
I think you need to back up your base and get the explanations for your clients.
The KLCI might correct for the whole week, so we can still wait.

With this kind of election result, how can be the KLCI rising?

Anyway, still need to monitor the whole asia markets closely, as most of the funds invest in asia regions.

No one knows... even without the election the global market in general are not favourable as well. However foreign fund manager see this (election outcome) as something good for longer term - http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIM...icle/index_html

I feel that the best is to stick back to fundamentals. As long as the general corporate earnings continue to grow, we could take advantage of short term volatility to accumulate cheaper units and stay invested for mid - longer term.

The PE ratio of index-link companies were "fair" but after today's fall should be cheaper than previous years average. I personally feel that the valuation of small/mid cap companies are much more attractive in general. Especially many of these companies were able to sustain double digit growth over the past few years.

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful" - Warren Buffett

Jordy, we will see. Anyway, you should be glad, because this assumption will be your selling point to your customers.

Yes, you are right.

Malaysia is blessed with natural resources.

If BN and BR are pro business, investors and people, I see no reason why investors should not invest in our country.

BR is preparing to do away the pro race policies, should be a good start as well.

Short term pain is better than long term regrets.

PE could be below 13x now.

This post has been edited by SKY 1809: Mar 10 2008, 07:24 PM