MY Morning Wrap | Hotel Segment Bolsters SunREIT's Performance in 3Q

U.S. stocks were taking a breather on Thursday following a rally that has carried the Nasdaq nearly 10% higher since the beginning of November, allowing both the tech-heavy index and the S&P 500 to exit correction territory. WTI Crude dropped more than 4.7%, pulling the market lower.

The overall positive business environment in the country is conducive for more initial public offerings (IPOs) heading into 2024, according to Deloitte Malaysia. The auditing and consultancy firm said the country has a generally healthy gross domestic product growth rate, and coupled with its relatively weak currency, should continue to attract foreign direct investments. The local bourse had seen 28 IPOs raising US$715mil in the first 10½ months of this year, which meant that Bursa had performed reasonably, considering its target of 31 listings for the whole of 2023.

The outlook for Malaysia's property sector remains positive, underpinned by healthy demand, as evidenced by increased loan applications for the purchase of property in the country. According to the latest data from Bank Negara, loan applications for purchases of property increased 0.9% month-on-month (m-o-m) in September 2023 after growing 4.8% m-o-m in the preceding month. On an annual basis, loan applications in September rose 15.6% year-on-year (y-o-y), bringing cumulative loan applications higher at RM457.9bil, up 2.6% y-o-y, for the first nine months of this year. MIDF Research said the data suggested buying interest in properties remained healthy following the reopening of the economy and country's borders post-Covid-19.