Previous Day Highlights

FBM KLCI closed marginally higher as bargain hunting emerged following Wednesday's sell down. The benchmark index was up 0.31% or 4.44 pts to close at 1,439.77. Majority of sectors were positive with utilities (+3.0%), energy (+1.5%), and technology (+1.1%) leading the gains; while the only loser was seen in transportation (-0.1%). Market breadth was positive with 575 gainers against 300 losers. Total volume stood at 3.38bn shares valued at RM1.93bn.

Major regional indices trended mostly positively. HSI gained 0.75% to end at 17,230.59. Nikkei 225 and STI were up 1.10% and 0.19% to finish at 31,949.89 and 3,082.53 respectively. Meanwhile, SHCOMP dropped 0.45%, to close at 3,009.41.

Wall Street closed higher on bets of the peaking US interest rates and strong earnings. The DJIA added 1.70%, to end at 33,839.08. Nasdaq and S&P500 rose 1.78% and 1.89%, to close at 13,294.19 and 4,317.78 respectively.

News For The Day

Pentamaster’s 3Q earnings up 17% on FAS segment growth

Pentamaster Corp’s 3QFY23 net profit grew 17.1% YoY to RM23.5m or 3.3 sen per share as it saw improvements across its business segments, mainly its factory automation solutions (FAS) segment. Revenue climbed 16.2% to RM180.74m from RM155.6m.-The Edge Markets

Atrium REIT acquires Shah Alam land for RM41m

Atrium Real Estate Investment Trust (Atrium REIT) is proposing to acquire leasehold land measuring 24,295 sq metres in Shah Alam, Selangor from Amazing Blitz SB for RM41m. Atrium REIT said the land is located directly beside its existing property, Atrium Shah Alam 4, which is tenanted to an established multinational logistics company.-The Star

AirAsia X bags RM29.7m contract

AirAsia X (AAX) has bagged a contract worth RM29.7m to operate charter flights to transport the Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) 850 forces to Beirut, Lebanon and back, as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (Unifil) peacekeeping mission.-The Edge Markets

ACE Market-bound Plytec’s IPO oversubscribed by 6.72x

Plytec Holdings’ 30.3m new shares involved in the public portion of its initial public offering (IPO) have been oversubscribed by 6.72 times. The construction engineering solution provider said that the public portion had received 3,451 applications for 233.87m shares.-The Edge Markets

MSM Malaysia drops legal action against Gas Malaysia

MSM Malaysia Holdings has agreed to discontinue the legal proceedings against Gas Malaysia Energy and Services SB (GMES) over a disputed sum of RM10.32m relating to gas supply to its wholly-owned unit MSM Sugar Refinery (Johor) SB (MSM Johor). -The Edge Markets

MAG seek proposal for new narrowbody aircraft in 1Q2024

Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of Malaysia Airlines, plans to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for narrowbody aircraft in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q2024), as part of the second stage of its narrowbody fleet renewal programme, its group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail said.-The Edge Markets

Our Thoughts

Wall Street closed positively with all 3 major indices surged as traders are betting that the Federal Reserve may be done with rate hikes for the year. The DJI Average added 564 points while the Nasdaq climbed 233 points higher as the US 10-year yield eased to almost a month low at 4.661%. Over in Hong Kong, the HSI gained 129 points as sentiment turned dovish as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) maintains its base rate after the Fed pauses rate hikes signaling a possible end to the rate hike cycle. On the home front, the FBM KLCI ended higher taking cue from improved regional performance. Meanwhile as expected, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept its BLR at 3% which should be good news for all. Underpin by a spate of positive news, we believe the local bourse to see the return of buyers thus expect the benchmark index to hover within the 1,440-1,450 range today. Again, we advocate investors to stay with the Banks as we anticipate the financials to chart decent earnings growth for 2023.

Source: Rakuten Research - 3 Nov 2023

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