Market Reports

• As predicted, Bank Negara Malaysia Monetary Policy Committee has cut overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points to 3% making the first easing in almost three years.
• This is a good move by BNM in view of increasing signs of slowdown in global and domestic economic activities. The rate cut is expected to provide relief and lowers borrowing cost for individuals and many businesses.
• Our stock market stands to benefit from the rate cut hence investors should take the opportunity to selectively buy on weakness in the current market. 

• Dow Jones Industrial staged a rebound to close off its low from -460 point to -66 points when news of China delegation will proceed to meet in Washington to discuss on trade deal and crude oil price has also rebounded to close above USD71/barrel.
• A such, we can expect O&G related stocks to benefit such as our technical pick today Barakah Offshore and Straits Inter Logistic where both have positive news announced (Refer to our technical view for more details).

Trump is at it again threatening to double tariffs on US$200bn of Chinese goods plus new import taxes. Such moves will again derail the stability of both the equity and treasury markets as we expect some knee jerk reactions to such developments.

• We can expect some weaknesses on the local bourse couple with lower Ringgit against the US$.
• We advise investors to accumulate on Blue Chips if and when the FBM KLCI dips below the 1,620 level.

• Regional markets were mostly mixed to lower. The DJI eased marginally by 49.44 points or 0.19% lower to 26,504.95 with a mixed bag of corporate results.
• The local bourse inched lower with the FBM KLCI easing 0.10 points or 0.01% to close the week at 1,637.30.
• Foreign funds outflow continued with RM275.8m net outflow pushing YTD outflow to over RM2.85bn. Performance amongst the FBMKLCI components saw 18 losers to 10 gainers.
• Top 3 performers include Axiata (+1.51%), Maybank (+1.31%) and Tenaga (+0.82%) while the top 3 losers were P Metal (-3.16%), Genting (-2.77%) and IHH (-1.43%).