MY MIDDAY INSIGHTS | PROFIT TAKING OFFSET, KLCI RISE 2.38 POINTS

Overnight, the three major US stock indices closed down, and investors are waiting for the non-farm payrolls data to be released tonight.

The regional stock market is doing well. Although Malaysian stocks welcomed the market at a slight low of 1415.29 points, then climbed to 1419.96, led by Tiandi Tong Digital, but the composite index was never able to break through the 1420 resistance point.

The half-day trading volume was 1.5 billion shares, with a transaction value of RM900 million.

The FTSE Malaysia All Stock Index closed at 10,508.33 points, starting at 14.54 points.

There were 347 rising stocks, 368 falling stocks, 429 had no ups or downs, and 1,172 had no transactions.

As of 12:30 p.m., the ringgit reported 4.7177 to $1.

Prime Minister Dato' Sri Anwar described Malaysia, which had a booming economy in the 1990s, is now back on track, which is beneficial to doing business.

Anwar, who is currently visiting the UAE for 2 days, said while attending a round table with business leaders on Thursday: “After taking over the administration 10 months ago, we have worked hard to negotiate and change in policy direction and political stability.

“When you come to Malaysia, you can see for yourself how it is different from the past two or three years. What I want to emphasize is that the current situation is far better than before, and it is easier to do business.”

At the conference, Anwar shared the efforts made by Malaysia, and hoped that they would be interested to meet and discuss cooperation.

Attendees included Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tunku Zafru, Foreign Minister Dr. Dato' Sri Jambiri, and UAE Minister of Foreign Trade Dr. Tani Amal.

Anwar said he will ensure that China and other ASEAN member countries can rise and become a booming major economy.

“This means we need to do something to be able to compete so that our economy and citizens can benefit from these initiatives and policies.”

Concerns about the global economy overshadowed the outlook for crude oil demand, and oil prices reached their biggest weekly drop since March.

West Texas Intermediate Oil closed overnight at its weakest level since late August, then rebounded slightly to close to $83 per barrel. This benchmark index fell nearly 9% cumulatively this week, with sharp declines on Wednesday and Thursday.

Poor data on gasoline consumption in the US, combined with an increase in oil inventories, has sparked a debate about whether previous price increases are undermining demand for products, but Goldman Sachs says this concern is excessive.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia tightened supply, compounded by falling inventories, which led to a sharp rise in oil prices in the third quarter; however, the rise in crude oil prices over the past week and a half was reversed as macroeconomic concerns escalated.

However, both Russia and Saudi Arabia have reiterated their commitment to cut production until the end of the year, and the latter also raised the official price of crude oil.

According to Tesla's website, the price of the Model 3 was lowered from the original 40,240 US dollars to 53,240 US dollars (about RM180,933 to RM250,1293) to $38,990 to 40,990 US dollars (about RM180,033 to RM21,7073).

Meanwhile, the price of the Model Y high-performance SUV was reduced from US$54,490 (approximately RM257,193) to US$52,490 (approximately RM24,753).

Tesla delivered 43,5059 vehicles globally in the last quarter, about 20,000 fewer than expected. The company needed to deliver more than 475,000 vehicles this quarter to meet its annual target of 1.8 million vehicles.

If compared on a year-on-year basis, the company's net loss also showed an expansion trend; the net loss was RM62.994,000 during the same period of the previous fiscal year.

The company reported to the Malaysia Stock Exchange on Friday, and its final quarter turnover fell 51.93% a year to RM47,865,000.

The company said that in reality, the one-time provision did not have an impact on the company's cash flow. If removed, the company's net loss in the final quarter was actually reduced to RM65 million.

Looking at the full year, turnover fell 59.50% per year to RM2,257.02,000; from profit to loss to RM926.637,000, a net profit of RM225.564,000 in the previous fiscal year.

Looking ahead, the company said that as customer inventories gradually decline, it believes that with the rise of health awareness, demand for gloves can be boosted once again.

According to the statement, the above three parties will explore the establishment of a consortium to share knowledge and technology to effectively develop and build innovative solar power plants domestically. This includes new solar energy projects combining carbon capture and storage (CCS), crop cultivation, and water storage.

At the same time, the three parties will also discuss activities after the completion of the cooperative treatment project, including recycling engineering materials.

In addition to solar energy, the three parties will also explore other innovative renewable energy projects.

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 decrease of 15 cents or 10.34%.

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

LTKM pointed out that although projects in LASB's hands are still ongoing, they are facing unexpected problems with major customers delaying execution of projects. At the same time, LTKM's egg business gradually resumed profits, so both parties agreed that terminating the inverted acquisition was the most beneficial solution for both parties.

Following the termination of the reverse takeover, other corporate activities related to LTKM, including proposals for majority shareholder Ladang Ternakan Kelang Private Limited (LTKSB) to bid RM158.83 million to acquire existing core business, return capital to shareholders and pay a special dividend of RM1.1098 per share, were also cancelled.