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 (Oct 5): The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) on Bursa Malaysia ended at an intraday high on Tuesday, spurred by bargain hunting in selected heavyweights.
At 5pm, the key index rose 7.95 points to end the day at 1,530.42 from Monday’s close of 1,522.47.
The index, which opened 0.23 of-a-point lower at 1,522.24, moved to as low as 1,515.54 during the day.
MISC Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd, Dialog Group Bhd and Public Bank Bhd boosted the composite index by a combined 4.99 points.
Nonetheless, market breadth was slightly negative with losers outpacing gainers 515 to 469, while 465 counters were unchanged, 796 untraded, and eight others suspended.
Turnover increased marginally to 3.97 billion units valued at RM2.69 billion compared with 3.9 billion units worth RM2.79 billion on Monday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of Equity Research Thong Pak Leng said bargain hunting was particularly seen in the oil and gas (O&G), banking and glove counters.
“The high crude oil price led to buying in the O&G counters, and banks are always a favourite when the market is up, while glove counters fell by quite a lot earlier, so people saw the opportunity for bottom fishing,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Thong noted that key regional markets had ended broadly lower following the overnight losses on Wall Street amidst concerns over rising yields.
He said some investors were cautious as oil prices have surged to a three-year high of above US$81 per barrel, which could spark inflation.
“Nevertheless, we reckon this will provide buying catalysts for our O&G counters,” he said, adding that the accumulation of stocks is expected to persist on dips as the FBM KLCI seems to be quite well supported at between 1,520 and 1,530.
He also anticipated the index to trade sideways for the week, with immediate support at 1,520 and resistance at 1,550.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank gained three sen to RM4.06, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd increased four sen to RM8.69, while IHH Healthcare Bhd was flat at RM6.60.
Malayan Banking Bhd trimmed two sen to RM8.01 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd slipped one sen to RM9.62.
Of the actives, both KNM Group Bhd and Kanger Internationals Bhd inched up half-a-sen to 24 sen and 5.5 sen, respectively, Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd rose 4.5 sen to 77 sen, while Sapura Energy Bhd was flat at 10 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 42.32 points to 11,279.75, the FBMT 100 Index went up 32.04 points to 10,947.03, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index earned 65.11 points to 12,336.95.
However, the FBM ACE lost 47.19 points to 7,011.27 and the FBM 70 fell 53.29 points to 14,918.19.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index gained 1.6 points to 205.04 and the Plantation Index soared 79.75 points to 6,404.24, while the Financial Services Index gave up 29.85 points for 15,102.03.
The Main Market volume increased to 2.78 billion shares worth RM2.36 billion compared with 2.51 billion shares worth RM2.27 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 389.6 million units valued at RM66.68 million against 456.24 million units worth RM78.19 million on Monday.
The volume on the ACE Market reduced to 795.76 million shares worth RM263.87 million from 935.43 million shares worth RM436.59 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 467.56 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (783.94 million), construction (97.26 million), technology (276.94 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (41.17 million), property (170.84 million), plantation (78.57 million), REITs (4.78 million), closed/fund (9,300), energy (675.87 million), healthcare (67.16 million), telecommunications and media (27.15 million), transportation and logistics (78.14 million) and utilities (10.21 million).
Meanwhile, SC Estate Builder said trading of its shares, which had been suspended since 9am on Tuesday, will resume at 9am on Wednesday.
Source: The Edge
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