The Bank of Russia unexpectedly maintained its key interest rate at a record-high 21% , defying analysts’ expectations of another significant hike as inflation remains stubbornly elevated. The decision marks a shift toward a more measured approach in balancing economic growth and price stability. Key Details Inflation Concerns: Annual inflation climbed to 8.9% in November, well above the central bank’s 4% target , with inflation expectations reaching 13.9% in December. Policy Rationale: The central bank cited the significant tightening of monetary conditions after October’s 200-basis point hike as sufficient to resume disinflationary processes. Governor Elvira Nabiullina emphasized avoiding both economic overheating and severe slowdowns. Economic Overheating: Elevated government spending on the war in Ukraine and social programs, coupled with labor shortages and rising wages, have fueled strong domestic demand, exacerbating price pressures...
Market Daily Report: KLCI closes lower as investors sentiment weighed by overnight tech sell-off on Nasdaq
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): The FBM KLCI finished 0.24% lower today, as broader market sentiment was weighed down by the tech sell-off in Wall Street, and weaker regional performance.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI lost 3.79 points to finish at 1,577.75. Market breadth was negative, with 906 decliners against 316 gainers, while 394 closed unchanged.
Some 9.79 billion shares worth RM6.91 billion crossed today, compared with 10.44 billion shares traded worth RM6.63 billion yesterday.
Remisier Jeffry Azizi Jaafar told theedgemarkets.com that the KLCI’s close in red territory today was partly due to the profit taking activities emerging on the local tech stocks as investors took cues from the overnight tumble of the Nasdaq due to the tech sell-off there.
Among the indices, the Bursa Malaysia Technology Index fell the most in percentage terms, slipping 2.19% to 88.87. Yesterday, the index jumped 5.48% to 90.86.
Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd topped the top decliners list (by value), as it slumped RM1 or 2.63% to RM37, followed by KESM Industries Bhd (down 48 sen or 3.02% to RM15.42) and UWC Bhd (down 32 sen or 4.73% to RM6.45).
Blue-chips stocks that dragged the FBM KLCI included Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, DiGi.Com Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Top Glove Corp Bhd.
Notable gainers included Nestle (M) Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Hap Seng Consolidated Bhd, Hong Leong Bank, PPB Group Bhd and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd.
The actively traded stocks included Dagang NeXchange Bhd, XOX Bhd, ManagePay Systems Bhd, Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd and MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd.
Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 3.99%, while South Korea's Kospi plunged 2.8%. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 3.64%, while the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index closed down 2.12%.
Bloomberg reported Asian stocks fell the most since March as losses in technology shares deepened amid a global selloff triggered by rising Treasury yields.
“Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, Samsung Electronics Co and Tencent Holdings Ltd contributed the most to losses in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which dropped as much as 3.2%. A gauge of the region’s technology stocks tumbled more than 4%, also the most since March,” the report noted.
It added that Friday’s selloff marks a sharp turnaround for equities which rallied for the most of January and February, pushing the Asian benchmark to a fresh record high. Equity benchmarks in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan slumped more than 3% each this Friday.
Source: The Edge
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