MY Closing Bell Reviews｜Follow REGIONAL MARKET, KLCI EXTENDED 1.28 POINTS

The Asian stock market is generally higher, while the Malaysian stock market is also dancing with the news, but it is still unable to reach the key level of 1,420 points.

By the time the market closed at 5 p.m., the FTSE Composite Index closed at 1416.88, starting at 1.28 points, or 0.09%.

The full-day turnover was 2.8 billion shares, with a transaction value of RM2 billion.

The FTSE Malaysia All Stock Index closed at 10,503.84 points, starting at 10.05 points.

There were 449 rising stocks, 407 falling stocks, 449 with no ups and downs, and 1,011 without trading.

Also, as of 5 p.m., ringgit was at the level of 4.7165 to $1.

The Bank of China (BNM) announced that the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Center (BISIH), the Bank of Australia (RBA), the Central Bank of Korea (BOK), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and several financial institutions have launched the “Mandala Project” to discuss general policy and regulatory agreements for cross-border foreign direct investment (FDI), loans and payments.

According to today's joint statement, the “Mandala Project” aims to automate compliance procedures, provide real-time transaction monitoring, and increase the transparency and visibility of country-specific policies.

This is because policies and regulatory frameworks vary between different jurisdictions, making it difficult to conduct cross-border transactions quickly and efficiently.

This has also increased the burden of regulatory compliance, extended the time for cross-border transactions, and led to increased uncertainty about the interests of those involved.

The “Mandala Project” compliance design framework helps achieve more efficient cross-border transfers of digital assets, and can even be used as a compliance basis for traditional and emerging wholesale or retail payment systems.

Furthermore, relevant measures help to combat misconduct such as money laundering and terrorist financing.

“The Bank of China will work to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments, and implementing the 'Mandala Project' will help pave the way for this while ensuring regulatory compliance and transaction security,” said Nohana, Assistant Governor of the Bank of China.

Malaysia's foreign exchange reserves as of September 29 fell to US$11.1 billion (approximately RM519.2 billion), a decrease of 1.4 billion US dollars compared to the amount in mid-September.

According to a statement issued by the State Bank on Friday, the current level of China's foreign exchange reserves is sufficient to cover 5.1 months of imported goods and services, and 1 times its short-term foreign debt.

In mid-September, China's foreign exchange reserves were reported at 111.5 billion US dollars (at that time, the exchange rate was reduced to RM522.6 billion).

Top Glove's net loss for the year-end fiscal year 2023 (ending the end of August) was RM463.14 million, which worsened 6.35 times from year to year. Last year's net loss was RM62.99 million; turnover fell 51.93% year-on-year to 475.86 million.

Net loss for the whole year reached RM926.64 million, from profit to loss year to year, with net profit of RM225.56 million in the previous fiscal year; annual turnover plummeted 59.50% year-on-year to RM225.7 million.

Lin Jiangyuan, managing director of top gloves, said in an online performance briefing on Friday that with the increase in glove sales and orders, the group's net debt to profit before interest, tax, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) has improved. He believes product sales will continue to rise, supporting the improvement in performance.

Group Executive Chairman Tan Sri Lin Weicai pointed out that EBITDA performance had been successfully improved when the factory usage rate of top gloves was only 30%.

“If the group can increase the usage rate by another 10% to 40% in the future, we can achieve a balance of expenses. As demand for gloves in the market improves, I believe that within 6 to 12 months or fiscal year 2025, the company will be able to break out of decline and regain profits.”

Furthermore, Top Glove's financial performance improved well in the final quarter, thanks to continuous product quality improvement and cost optimization strategies implemented by the Group's Reversal Plan (T6).

“Although the company is currently still at a loss, as the cost of raw materials falls and the average sales price of gloves falls, it is possible for the company to balance saving costs and maintaining profits.”

LTKM dropped to a low of RM1.20 this morning, which is equivalent to a drop of 25 cents or 17.24%. When the market closed at noon, the stock recovered some of its losses and reported RM1.30, a drop of 15 cents, or 10.34%.

LTKM announced on Thursday (5th) that the shareholders of the company and Local Assembly Private Limited (LASB) have agreed to jointly terminate the reversal acquisition plan worth RM336 million.

LTKM pointed out that although the project currently in LASB's hands is still ongoing, it is facing unexpected problems with major customers delaying execution of the project. At the same time, LTKM's egg business is gradually returning to profit, so the two parties agreed that terminating the inverted acquisition is the most beneficial solution for both parties.