Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) has paid its latest dividend on 1 April 2023. The dividend is 4.5 cents, equals to a dividend rate of 4.5%. It is an increase of 12.5% compared to 2022.
Trend
For the previous dividends, you can refer to this page.
The dividend of ASM in 2023 has finally increased after two years of static amount. Currently, four cents is the lowest amount that this fund would pay to its investors. This four cents dividend was paid for the past two years.
Outlook
The benchmark that ASM uses to compare itself with is the Maybank 12-Month Fixed Deposit, which has a return of 2.52% (previous year: 1.85%). However, I am using KLCI as the benchmark. In 2022, KLCI had a negative return of 4.60% (2021: -3.67%). ASM 2023 dividend rate outperformed this benchmark by 9.10%.
Honestly, this dividend amount was a surprise to me. I expected the dividend to be below four cents. This amount is also better than 2020 (4.25 cents). But it is still lower than 2019 (5.5 cents).
As I have mentioned in the previous articles, the fixed price funds are my emergency fund now, instead of investments. I am not going to invest more money into these funds. Even if I want to top up, it is very hard to deposit money nowadays.
Previously, I have recommended Simpan SSPN Prime as an alternative to ASM due to the tax relief. I still think it is a good alternative. However, this tax relief is only available till 2024, unless extended by the government.