Previous Day Highlights

FBM KLCI reversed its earlier gain and ended marginally lower as market sentiment remain cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting. The benchmark index lost a mere 0.06% or 0.87 points to close at 1,452.68. Losers were led by RHBBANK, AXIATA and TENAGA. Overall, market breadth was positive with 465 gainers against 380 losers while 416 counters remain unchanged. Total volume stood at 2.84bn shares valued at RM1.79bn.

Key regional indices closed mostly on positive note taking the positive cue from Wall Street’s performance overnight. Nikkei 225 soared 1.11% to close at 28,237.78. HSI and STI increased 0.17% and 0.23% to end at 20,603.19 and 3,239.31 respectively. Meanwhile, SHCOMP erased 0.19% to finish at 3,322.03.

Wall Street trended mixed ahead of Federal Reserves’ Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony. The DJIA and S&P500 added 0.12% and 0.07% to end at 33,431.44 and 4,048.42 respectively, while the Nasdaq weakened 0.11% to finish at 11,675.74.

News For The Day

Citaglobal wins RM200m Sanglang EPC contract

Citaglobal has secured a RM200m letter of intent to undertake engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works for the development of the Sanglang Integrated Jetty project in Perlis. The group said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Citaglobal Engineering Services SB, had received the EPC contact from Mutiara Perlis SB. With this award, Citaglobal’s existing orderbook will increase to RM933.2m from RM733.2m previously. – The Star

UMediC 2Q profit up 45% QoQ

UMediC Group’s 2QFY7/23 net profit stood at RM2.91m against its revenue of RM12.52m. UMediC's net profit rose 45.38% QoQ to RM2.91m from RM2m, as revenue rose 10.64% QoQ to RM12.52m from RM11.31m due to higher demand for medical devices and consumables from public and private hospitals as well as healthcare service providers, it said.-The Edge Markets

Solarvest to construct solar PV plants in the Philippines

Solarvest Holdings has formed a consortium with a solar energy solutions provider based in the Philippines to provide rural electrification in Mindanao Island there. Solarvest said it is partnering with Edward Marcs Philippines Inc to work with Philippine government-owned National Power Corporation (NPC) to construct electricity distribution systems in rural areas. Small grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants will be installed at distribution substations within the geographical region.-The Edge Markets

Higher Education Ministry approves IHH’s sale of IMU

IHH Healthcare said its proposed sale of the International Medical University (IMU) for RM1.35bn has been approved by the Higher Education Ministry. The deal has become unconditional as of March 3. In June 2022, IHH announced the proposed disposal of IMU Health SB to Inbound Education Holdings SB, a consortium led by The Rise Fund and the Hong Leong Group. The transaction also includes the sale of IMU’s hospital to Columbia Asia SB.-The Edge Markets

Key ASIC wins four contracts worth RM16m

Key ASIC clinched four turnkey application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design service contracts worth RM16m over a three-year period. Key ASIC said the four contracts include two contracts from existing end customers. Another two are from new customers, including a HongKong-based client.-The Edge Markets

Our Thoughts

Wall Street closed mixed as sentiment remained cautious ahead of Federal Reserves’ Chair Jerome Powell congressional testament today and tomorrow. Though the DJI Average was up 40 points, the Nasdaq declined by 13 points as the US 10-year yield stayed at 3.96%. In Hong Kong, the HSI added 36 points as investors were rather disappointed with a conservative economic growth target of 5% for China during the “Two Sessions” meeting over the weekend. Nonetheless, many are expecting some additional stimulus by the new incoming Premier next week. Back home, the FBM KLCI ended marginally lower attributed to some last minute selling activities namely on the Banks and Telco related stocks. For today, we reckon sentiment to remain cautious as investors may opt to stay sidelined ahead of the Bank Negara’s MPC meeting over the next 2 days. As such, we reckon trading to be lackluster today and expect the index to trend between the 1,450-1,460 range. There may be some headwinds on the Oil & Gas stocks today as global demand is expected to wane due to the lower than anticipated China’s growth forecast.

Source: Rakuten Research - 7 Mar 2023

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