KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) has declared an income distribution of 5.00 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Malaysia 2 Wawasan (ASM 2 Wawasan) for the financial year ending August 31, 2019.

ASNB, the wholly-owned unit trust company of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), will be paying out RM1.06 billion in income distribution to 883,049 unit holders who currently hold 21.6 billion units.

The fund recorded a net income of RM760 million for the first 11 months of its financial year as at July 31, 2019, on the back of a subdued local stock market performance, impacted by external and global factors.

"Given the highly volatile challenging domestic and global financial markets, we are focused on strengthening our resilience,” PNB chairman, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz said in a statement.

She said ASNB remained firmly committed to its mandate to enhance the economic wealth of the Bumiputera community and Malaysians through sound investments to ensure sustainable returns.

Since the beginning of the financial year of ASM 2 Wawasan, the FBM KLCI has declined by 10.16 per cent from 1,819.66 at the closing of August 31, 2018 to 1,634.87 as at July 31, 2019.

Transactions in the fund have been suspended from August 29-September 2 to facilitate the computation of income distribution. — Bernama