Over AS 1Malaysia Units 1.6 Bln Units Sold

Pemodalan Nasional Bhd's (PNB) Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia (AS 1Malaysia) has sold 1.67 billion units, its president/chief executive officer, Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman, said Tuesday.

He said the response to the fund was encouraging with subscription on the first day of sales exceeded that sold by other fixed funds like ASW 2020 and ASM.

"If you compare with ASM and ASW 2020, this product is better. On the first day, it sold 1.4 billion units.

"Compared with ASM and ASW 2020, the response was encouraging," he told reporters after the finals of Investment Quiz Contest PNB 2009 (Secondary Schools) and PNB's Smart Investment Club Debate here today.

AS 1Malaysia, with approved fund size of RM10 billion, is offered to Malaysians aged 18 and above at RM1 each.

The public can invest in at least 100 units.

For those aged under 55 they can buy a maximum of 50,000 units and 100,000 units for those aged 55 and above.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the fund on July 31, 2009.

Hamad Kama Piah said for the Chinese community its quota was 50 percent sold.

"This is unlike other unit trusts sold by PNB where the quota for the Chinese community would be taken up within two days of the launch," he said.

He said the reason could be PNB benchmarked the fund's returns against the average five-year Malaysian Government Securities yield, which currently has a trading yield of 3.73 per cent.

For ASW 2020 and ASM, he said, PNB used the three-month Kuala Lumpur Inter-Bank Offered Rate.

"When they understand the situation, I hope they will continue to invest and not wait until the last minute," he said.