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 1): Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Friday due to continued selling activities in the healthcare as well as telecommunications and media counters amid weaker sentiment in the regional markets, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 13.32 points or 0.87% to 1,524.48 from Thursday’s close of 1,537.8.
The index, which opened 1.31 points lower at 1,536.49, moved between 1,521.08 and 1,539.47 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 757 to 269, while 361 counters were unchanged, 857 untraded and seven others suspended.
Turnover slipped to 3.97 billion units worth RM2.73 billion from 4.39 billion units worth RM3.34 billion on Thursday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said local equities ended lower in a lacklustre trading day due to selling pressure on heavyweights, particularly banks and glove makers.
“Key regional markets were also in negative territory following the firmly negative cue overnight from Wall Street as investors reacted to rising inflation worries,” he told Bernama on Friday.
Regionally, ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said, most Asian stocks fell on Friday following a weak handover from Wall Street overnight where the S&P 500 closed September lower, for its worst month and quarter since the beginning of the pandemic.
“Looking ahead, traders are likely to start building new portfolio positions for the year-end, ahead of major shifts in monetary policy from G7 central banks, and as emerging markets start showing early signals of stagflation,” he said in a research note on Friday.
Later on Friday, he said, there would be the final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) readings from across the globe.
“Markets will be keeping an eye out for the US Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey and US Personal Consumption Expenditures data due in the US session on Friday,” he added.
Meanwhile, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Maxis Bhd were the top two losers in the benchmark index on Friday, declining by 12 sen to RM2.70 and 15 sen to RM4.54, respectively.
As for other heavyweights, Malayan Banking Bhd was flat at RM8.05, Public Bank Bhd fell three sen to RM4.04, IHH Healthcare Bhd dropped five sen to RM6.65, Tenaga Nasional Bhd lost eight sen to RM9.60, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd went up four sen to RM8.74.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy Bhd, KNM Group Bhd and Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd decreased 1.5 sen each to 10 sen, 21.5 sen and 32 sen, respectively, while Kanger International Bhd was flat at five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 86.89 points to 11,224.19, the FBMT 100 Index was 90.78 points easier at 10,907.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 110.94 points to 12,248.07.
The FBM 70 eased 106.23 points to 14,874.53 while the FBM ACE slid 94.48 points to 7,064.42.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index decreased 1.3 points to 202.93, the Plantation Index went up 19.74 points to 6,348.08, and the Financial Services Index reduced by 47.27 points to 15,160.08.
The Main Market volume increased to 2.9 billion shares worth RM2.44 billion from Thursday’s 2.74 billion shares worth RM2.96 billion.
Warrants turnover declined to 237.9 million units valued at RM36.65 million versus 410.46 million units worth RM63.61 million on Thursday.
The volume on the ACE Market fell to 822.05 million shares worth RM248.09 million from 1.23 billion shares worth RM310.07 million on Thursday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 515.45 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (729.76 million), construction (163.19 million), technology (302.59 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (62.87 million), property (186 million), plantation (30.8 million), REITs (4.69 million), closed/fund (56,100), energy (662.12 million), healthcare (98.75 million), telecommunications and media (37.7 million), transportation and logistics (95.68 million) and utilities (13.55 million).
Source: The Edge
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