KUALA LUMPUR: The domestic market tacked on more gains at Friday's open as the confirmation of slowing US inflation boosted investors' appetite for equities.
TA Securities Research said the market is expected to remain range-bound with upward bias ahead of the weeked as hopes of peaking inflation inflation in the US and China's reopening momentum ease pressure on rising rates and promote growth.
"Immediate index supports at 1,460 and 1,450 should cushion downside, with better supports from 1,420 and 1,400.
"Immediate resistance remains at the 1,500 psychological level, with 1,512, and the August high near 1,528 as stronger resistance levels, followed by 1,550 and 1,570 as tougher upside hurdles," it said.
At 9.05am, the benchmark FBM KLCI was set to end the week on a positive note, having risen 2.54 points to 1,491.2. The gainers on the market outpaced the decliners 175 to 97.
Trading volume was 200.7 million shares valued at RM85.23mil.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities Research noted that the higher price of Brent crude to around US$84 a barrel could also lift sentiment on the local bourse.
Contravening this upside was comments made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Plantation and Commodities on the potential halt of palm oil exports to the European Union, which could trigger higher volatility in plantation counters.
Amid rising sentiment in technology counters, there was strong buying interest in Hextar Technologies, which rose RM1.42 to RM23.62. MPI gained 12 sen to RM32.50, Frontken jumped seven sen to RM3.38 and UMW added seven sen to RM3.71.
Serba Dinamik topped the list of active counters as it reopened for trading after a suspension, gaining 1.5 sen to 2.5 sen.
NationGate added a further eight sen to RM1.08 following a stellar performance on its debut yesterday, in which it blew past analyst targets.
Home Market Buzz Stock Quote Price Target Portfolio How to Invest Member Services Malaysia Desktop Mode
ASTRO
+0.01
0.615
1.65%
PASUKGB
0.00
0.015
0.00%
CYPARK
+0.005
0.70
0.72%
SENHENG
-0.005
0.585
-0.85%
MAGNUM
+0.01
1.28
0.79%
CHHB
-0.01
0.39
-2.50%
MLAB
+0.005
0.02
33.33%
CAPITALA
+0.015
0.71
2.16%
Media - Err on the Side of Caution Date: 2023-01-05 Firm: HLG Stock: ASTRO Price Target: 0.95 Price Call: BUY Last Price: 0.615 Upside/Downside: +0.335 (54.47%) It is no surprise that the relaxation of pandemic restrictions and the resumption of economic activities helped to drive the growth and recovery in adex seen in 10M22 vs 2021. However, as revenge spending by consumers normalizes following the diminishing base effect and weakening consumer sentiment caused by inflationary risks, advertisers could be more cautious on their ad spend. We therefore downgrade our sector rating to NEUTRAL. There are no changes to our calls and TPs for Astro (BUY; TP: RM1.15), Star (HOLD; TP: RM0.31) and Media Prima (BUY; TP: RM0.54). Top pick for the sector is Astro.
Adex improvement. Unsurprisingly, Malaysia’s adex environment saw vast improvement in 2022 compared to 2021 as the country transitioned to endemicity on 1 Apr, allowing the economy to completely reopen. Based on Nielsen’s data (see Figure #1), 10M22 adex grew by 12% with total industry adex reaching RM5.3bn (10M21: RM4.73bn), following the country’s full reopening of economic activities. All segments registered YoY growths except for in-store media (-66.4%). Top 3 biggest improvements were seen in the cinema (+9.2x), digital (+33.6%) and radio (+29.4%) segments. Notably, we are seeing a bigger shift away from newspapers as a major advertising segment into digital as the gap between the two has widened further (newspapers vs digital adex for 10M21: RM722.3m vs RM815.2m; for 10M22: RM863.8m vs RM1.1bn).
Bleak sentiments. MIER’s latest Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) and Business Conditions Index (BCI) for 3Q22 came in at 98.4 and 99.8 points respectively, which are both still below the 100-point optimism threshold (see Figure #2). While the QoQ improvement is noted, it is still too early to consider that as indicating optimism. With an uncertain economic outlook for 2023, any decline in consumer spending could negatively impact advertiser’s sentiment and thus lower adex spending. Other than that, the RAM-CTOS Business Confidence Index reading for 4Q22 came in at 46.2 (see Figure #3). This has declined for two consecutive quarters, with the latest reading below the 50-point neutral mark (i.e. >50 is positive, <50 is negative). Firms surveyed stated rising costs to be the main challenge faced with the weakening economy coming in second. Should inflation remain elevated, costs could remain higher for longer and hamper any improvement in business sentiment.
Weakening USD against RM. The USD has begun to come off its peak while the RM has regained its strength post GE15. Should the USD continue to weaken relative to the RM in the following months, this will help ease elevated newsprint costs which is a positive for Star Media, as its print segment might see margin improvements, whereas Astro might see lower hedging costs as the group regularly hedges its USD exposure.
2023 Outlook. With the merits of economic reopening mostly reaped in 2022, the base effect would start to diminish this year. A key dampener to consumer sentiment would be the rising cost of living which would lead to consumers cutting back on discretionary spending – this may in turn cause advertisers to be more cautious with their ad spend as well. 4Q22 adex should be stronger as advertisers spend more freely for the Christmas and Chinese New Year periods, as well as coming off the back of the FIFA World Cup. However, looking further ahead, there is a lack of clarity on the trend of adex following the fluidity of global economic events. For these reasons, we downgrade our sector rating to NEUTRAL (from Overweight). Top pick for the sector is Astro (BUY, TP: RM0.95) as we believe that following the recent selloff, most of the negatives facing the group have been priced in. Moreover, the stock has a projected FY23-24f dividend yield of 9.8%.
Source: Hong Leong Investment Bank Research - 5 Jan 2023
Bila pelancong2 china kembali, banyak restoran, hotel, dll kembali subscribe astro untuk pelancong2 dari China .. sabar bro! Usah potong untung terlalu awal
Great Buy for now... Although ASTRO has many debt but many institution knew that DEBT is reducing every year...overall the stock is oversold too much...dont panic la... this is main communication for the government and Gen X and Y....that is my conclusion for now though...be wise
Walaupun price target upside tapi EPF jual juga... reaction terbalik ni sebab retail investor nak buying opportunity sebab stock ni oversold sangat tapi "hedgefunds" jual..Invest wisely
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 2): The Government on Thursday announced the introduction of the Fixed Internet Broadband Unity Package which is aimed at helping the B40 households, veterans, persons with disabilities and senior citizens to enjoy broadband services at a lower price.
Minister of Communications and Digital Fahmi Fadzil said the introduction of the package was in line with the government’s commitment to reduce the people’s cost of living.
He said the package offers internet services with speeds of up to 30 Mbps along with unlimited data that costs only RM69 a month.
“It will be offered from March onwards with a 24-month subscription contract.
“The price is 22% cheaper than the price of other packages available with the same specifications, which is around RM89. That means the people will be able to save RM480 throughout the contract period,” he said in a statement here on Thursday.
Fahmi said the package is offered with the cooperation of existing fixed internet broadband service providers namely Telekom Malaysia (TM), CelcomDigi, Maxis, U Mobile, YTL, TIME Berhad and Astro.
The minister said the initiative was not only in line with the government’s aspiration to alleviate the people’s burden, but also an indicator that the government and service providers really cared about the people’s needs and wellbeing.
Apart from that, it was also part of the efforts to ensure more comprehensive digital connectivity at a much lower price in line with the concept of Malaysia Madani, he added.
This book is the result of the author's many years of experience and observation throughout his 26 years in the stockbroking industry. It was written for general public to learn to invest based on facts and not on fantasies or hearsay....
Good123
21,388 posts
Posted by Good123 > 2023-01-13 09:04 | Report Abuse
Sabar bro!
Dah mula terbang :)