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 (March 2): Shares on Bursa Malaysia were mostly down in line with the weaker regional market performance and overnight sell-down on Wall Street, a dealer said.
However, the FBM KLCI rebounded on late buying interest, mainly driven by plantation, and industrial product and services stocks amid the surge in oil prices.
At 5pm on Wednesday (March 2), the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 0.10% or 1.66 points to 1,598.10 from 1,596.44 at Tuesday's (March 1) close.
The index, which opened 4.69 points better at 1,601.13, moved between 1,592.62 and 1,606.38 throughout the trading session.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 607 to 406, while 378 counters were unchanged, 856 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Turnover improved to 3.23 billion units valued at RM3.68 billion from Tuesday’s 3.21 billion units worth RM3.25 billion.
At the time of writing, Brent Crude was 6.05% higher at US$111.32 per barrel.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said crude oil price surged even though the US and International Energy Agency had agreed to release 60 million barrels of crude reserves to restrain price increases.
“Investors are also concerned about aggressive US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes in the next few months due to the worsening geopolitical conflict,” he told Bernama.
As for the local bourse, Thong reckoned that investor sentiment would be cautious for the short term due to the heightened regional market volatility as a result of the geopolitical tensions.
“Nonetheless, we believe the overall outlook would remain positive due to attractive valuations and continuous strong foreign inflow.
“We reckon that oil and gas stocks to remain a short-term play due to the higher crude oil prices and anticipate the FBM KLCI to hover within the 1,590-1,610 range for the remainder of the week,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank improved four sen to RM8.94, Petronas Chemicals added 17 sen to RM9.77, Press Metal gained 28 sen to RM7.07, Sime Darby Plantation rose 31 sen to RM5.22, while Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.41.
Of the actives, SMTrack lost half-a-sen to 22 sen, while Hibiscus Petroleum and Bumi Armada stayed at RM1.22 and 46.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, FBM ACE dipped 118.46 points to 5,753.89, FBM 70 gained 54.88 points to 13,465.14, FBM Emas Index rose 1.62 points to 11,372.47, FBMT 100 Index decreased 0.74 of-a-point to 11,048.74, and FBM Emas Shariah Index widened 49.08 points to 12,140.57.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 95.10 points to 16,353.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.54 points firmer at 212.36, and the Plantation Index climbed 286.22 points to 8,610.04.
The Main Market volume declined to 2.31 billion shares worth RM3.47 billion from 2.20 billion shares worth RM3.02 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover rose to 362.36 million units worth RM47.14 million compared with 330.69 million units worth RM40.15 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume narrowed to 554.21 million shares valued at RM168.42 million versus 680.13 million shares valued at RM188.22 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 269.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (519.16 million), construction (87.13 million), technology (220.94 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (152.83 million), property (184.00 million), plantation (360.81 million), REITs (5.64 million), closed/fund (24,000), energy (395.64 million), healthcare (38.40 million), telecommunications and media (19.86 million), transportation and logistics (33.25 million), and utilities (24.82 million).
Source: The Edge
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