Banking: Non-household loans continue to pick up pace Overweight

Industry loan growth gained traction to 6.0%YoY in Oct 2018 (Sept 2018: 5.7%YoY) supported by stronger momentum in non-household loans while growth in household loans remained stable. Year-to-date (YTD) annualised industry loan growth was 5.4%, and it remained close to our expectation of 5.0% for 2018.

Slower growth in loan applications due to slow down in pace of non-household applications. Oct 2018 saw the growth in industry loan applications slipping to - 0.4%YoY vs. 6.1%YoY in the preceding month as growth in non-household applications although partially offset by higher household loan applications.

Growth in industry loan approvals dropped to 15.0%YoY in Oct 2018 vs. 25.5%YoY in Sept 2018. Contributing to this was the decline in growth of approvals for nonhousehold loans to 21.1%YoY while that of household loans rose to 9.9%YoY. Approvals for working capital loans slipped in Oct 2018. On household loans, approvals for mortgage loans and credit cards improved while that of other segments, which included approvals, of car financing slowed down.

Others:

Titijaya Land: A flattish 1QFY19 , sees stronger earnings ahead Buy

Star Media: Soft adex drags 3Q into the red Hold

UMW Holdings: Stronger across the board Hold Petronas Gas: Potential IBR value dampener on good results Sell

Oil & Gas: Report card disappoints again amid price uncertainties Neutral

Plantation: 3Q2018 Earnings Review: A dreary quarter again Underweight

QUICK TAKE

Plantation Sector: News flow for week 26 – 30 Nov Neutral

RETAIL RESEARCH

Stocks On Radar: MPI, Carlsberg, SLP Resources, BIMB Holdings

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Domestic Equity Market: Bears seen to roll into 2019

Mycron: Says the worst yet to come if steel dumping not curbed

Axiata Group: Celcom playing catch-up

M&A: Nexstar clinches US$4.1 billion deal to acquire Tribune Media — sources

Source: AmInvest Research - 3 Dec 2018