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...
KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 17): Bursa Malaysia ended the week in the red, dragged down by selling of selected heavyweight counters, led by Top Glove Corp Bhd and IOI Corp Bhd.
At 5pm, the benchmark FBM KLCI closed 6.75 points lower at 1,548.51 from Wednesday’s close at 1,555.26.
The index, which opened 1.09 points better at 1,556.35, moved between 1,543.08 and 1,556.74 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with decliners leading gainers 620 to 470, while 412 counters were unchanged, 766 untraded and 10 others suspended.Turnover rose to 5.13 billion units worth RM4.18 billion from 4.5 billion units worth RM3.06 billion on Wednesday.
Top Glove and IOI Corp dragged the composite index down by 3.645 points after both shed 14 sen each to RM3.06 and RM3.77 respectively.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the KLCI ended lower for the sixth consecutive day mainly due to selling by local institutions.
He said the benchmark index fell by 0.43%, dragged down mainly by glove, banking and plantation stocks.
“We believe the chance of a windfall tax for glove companies is low because their average selling prices (ASPs) have been coming down very quickly, hence affecting their profit, while the market has just overreacted.
“We reckon the selling of banking stocks was overdone as the impact of the proposed interest waiver may not be that significant on banks as it will be only for the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21),” he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) fell four sen to RM8.25, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) slipped seven sen to RM7.94 and Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd recovered six sen to RM5.80, while Public Bank Bhd rose five sen to RM4.06.
Among the actives, KNM Group Bhd increased half a sen to 26.5 sen, Fintec Global Bhd was flat at 2.5 sen and Dagang NeXchange Bhd (DNeX) bagged four sen to 80 sen.
Among the top decliners, Petronas Dagangan Bhd (PetDag) tumbled 76 sen to RM19.02, Nestlé (Malaysia) Bhd erased 70 sen to RM134, and SAM Engineering & Equipment (M) Bhd lost 48 sen to RM14.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 30.03 points to 11,365.82, the FBMT 100 Index was 26.42 points easier at 11,059.86 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 63.65 points to 12,414.14.
The FBM 70 firmed up 48.92 points to 15,007.29, while FBM ACE added 5.47 points to 7,201.22.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index trimmed 93.03 points to 6,426.42, the Industrial Products and Services Index went down 0.09 of a point to 199.61, and the Financial Services Index perked up 25.29 points to 15,289.80.
The Main Market volume increased to 3.38 billion shares worth RM3.8 billion from Wednesday’s 3.21 billion shares worth RM2.75 billion.
Warrant turnover rose to 403.95 million units valued at RM60.4 million, compared with 318.65 million units valued at RM55.52 million previously.
Volume of the ACE Market widened to 1.26 billion shares worth RM310.23 million from 921.38 million shares worth RM253.22 million on Wednesday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 669.31 million shares traded on the Main Market, followed by industrial products and services (985.29 million), construction (120.73 million), technology (448.18 million), special purpose acquisition company or SPAC (nil), financial services (87.35 million), property (280.58 million), plantation (39.41 million), real estate investment trust or REIT (172.32 million), closed/fund (45,000), energy (403.28 million), healthcare (141.52 million), telecommunications and media (87.74 million), transportation and logistics (66.89 million), and utilities (30.95 million).
Source: The Edge
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