New Fund: Public Islamic Savings Fund
The Public Islamic Savings Fund (PISVF) is an Islamic equity fund that seeks to provide income over the medium to long-term period by investing in a diversified portfolio of primarily Shariah-compliant Malaysian stocks which offer or have the potential to offer attractive dividend yields. PISVF may also invest in Shariah-compliant growth or recovery stocks that have the potential to eventually adopt a dividend payout policy.
As the Fund focuses its investments mainly in the domestic market, PISVF offers investors an opportunity to capitalise on Malaysia’s resilient economic growth prospects in the medium to long-term. The performance of selected Shariah-compliant sectors of the Malaysian economy is expected to remain supported by sustained consumer and investment spending over the longer term.
To achieve increased diversification, the Fund may also invest up to 30% of its net asset value (NAV) in selected foreign markets which include Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Luxembourg and other permitted markets.
Growth Prospects for the Malaysian Economy
The Malaysian economy is expected to expand by 4.5% in 2011 and 5.4% in 2012 supported by resilient domestic demand amid higher investment spending and firm private consumption. Despite the anticipated slowdown in external demand amidst a more challenging global economic environment, Malaysia’s domestic economy is supported by sustained growth in disposable income, favourable demographic trends and affordable lending rates.
Over the medium to long-term, higher investment spending under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) is expected to boost the performance of selected Shariah-compliant sectors in Malaysia. The communication sector should experience an increase in activities with targeted rollout of 10 content and infrastructure projects with an estimated investment value of RM51billion. This sector offers promising growth prospects as improved communications infrastructure is expected to contribute to the enhancement of business transactions, improvement in information flow and formation of new knowledge in developing high valued human capital in the coming years.
Meanwhile, the consumer sector should continue to benefit from sustained consumer spending in tandem with resilient incomes. Consumer spending is projected to grow on the back of increased urbanisation, favourable demographics and the government’s efforts to promote tourism activities. To date, the government has announced a total of 12 out 27 projects in the retail and tourism industries with an estimated value of RM25billion under the ETP.
Furthermore, the 2012 Federal Budget announced in October 2011 contained a wide range of measures to enhance the economic well-being of the lower income, middle-class and the elderly groups. These measures are expected to enhance household disposable incomes and support consumer spending.
The oil & gas sector is also a major beneficiary under the ETP with the national oil company PETRONAS spearheading the initiatives. Since the launch of the ETP, 12 out of 65 projects have been announced with an estimated investment value of RM88.2billion.
Lastly, the infrastructure sector should experience an increase in activities with the roll-out of projects such as the RM40 billion - RM50 billion Greater Kuala Lumpur Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project and numerous new highways in the Klang Valley.
Source: Public Mutual
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