MY CLOSING BELL REVIEWS | WEAK REGIONAL SATISFACTION, KLCI CLOSED UP 5.12 POINTS

The Asian stock market today followed the decline of US stocks last night; Hong Kong was closed all day due to the heavy rain, while the Malaysian stock market also followed the pace of the global stock market.

When the market closed at 5 p.m., the Composite Index closed at 1454.95 points, down 5.12 points, or 0.35%.

The full-day turnover was 2.5 billion shares, with a transaction value of RM1.8 billion.

The FTSE Malaysia All Stock Index closed at 10726.92 points, down 47.88 points.

There were 364 rising stocks, 503 falling stocks, 443 without ups and downs, and 1,013 without trading.

Meanwhile, at 5:1 p.m., the US dollar was cashed out in ringgit to the level of 4.6772.

BMI, a subsidiary of Fitch Solutions, predicts that the Bank of China will stand still within this year. Furthermore, it will not be possible to cut interest rates until the first half of 2024 at the earliest.

The underlying effects are expected to remain favorable over the next few months, and potential price pressures will ease somewhat in the face of economic weakness.

“Real GDP growth has slowed from 5.6% in the first quarter in 2023 to 2.9% in the next quarter.”

“Looking ahead, we think the Bank of China will be wary of easing monetary policy too soon.”

“Compared with regional peers, the Bank of China's cumulative interest rate hike of 125 basis points is relatively moderate. This shows that the Bank of China does not need to cut interest rates too soon.”

Even if economic growth exceeds expectations, the MIDF study suggests that it will be difficult for the government to reach the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) fiscal deficit target of 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) within two years, predicting that the final deficit by 2025 will fall at the level of 4% to 4.5%.

MIDF research analysts believe that with limited government revenue and high spending, maintaining fiscal balance is extremely challenging, making it difficult for the country to reduce its deficit to 3.5% of the target by 2025.

The analyst pointed out that in the 12th Malaysia Plan, development expenses reached 400 billion ringgit, or 80 billion ringgit per year, while the 11th Malaysia Plan was only RM248 billion.

“Between 2021 and 2023, the government has broadcast RM232.8 billion in development expenses. Assuming that the government does not revise the original budget, it can also allocate an average of RM83.6 billion a year for development expenses in 2024 and 2025.”

The Bureau of Statistics released the latest labor market report. China's labor market has further improved. As of July this year, the unemployment rate was 3.4%. Although it is the same as last month, the number of unemployed people dropped slightly by 0.4% month to 579,200.

Dr. Dato' Sri Mohd Uzir, chief statistician of the Malaysian Bureau of Statistics, issued a statement today saying that as the economy recovers and the number of employed people increases, the labor market is expected to continue to expand.

He said that the labor force increased by 0.1% in July to 16.91 million, and in June it was 16.89 million. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) recorded 70.1%, and in June it was 70.0%.

In terms of the number of people employed, it increased 0.2% from 16.31 million in June to 16.34 million in July.

Cohenma's CEO and managing director Ravendra Singan pointed out through a statement that Andrés's request to remove the current board of directors is not surprising, and doubts that the reason behind it is that Andres wants to acquire Koenma's Borsig Group and FBM Hudson Group at a lower cost.

“Does Andrés want to use this method to reduce the cost of acquiring Borsig Group and FBM Hudson Group? Compared to our competitive divestment method, if Andres wins, Koenma's shareholders and creditors will have nothing.”

He revealed that Andrés had previously intended to buy Borsig Group and FBM Hudson Group from Koenma, but it ended in failure.

Therefore, Wyncorp advises shareholders to oppose the acquisition proposal and the proposal to support the sale of computer paper on a shareholder basis!

Wyncorp said in an independent report that Huide Diversified's move to acquire computer paper was premature. Not only did the acquisition not receive fundamental support, but it also involved high investment risks.

The report supports its view by stating that computer paper is in a state of loss and that its net assets per share are lower than the current market share price.