Daily Market Report (10 March 2023)
- Wall Street closed sharply lower as sentiment turned negative on concerns that high interest rates and the Federal Reserves’ hawkish stance are to remain over a longer period.
- As a result, the DJI Average lost 543 points while the Nasdaq declined by 238 points despite the US 10-year yield ended lower at 3.91%.
- Over in Hong Kong, the HSI slumped 125 points to below the 20,000 level on concerns that the ongoing US/China tension will impact China’s access to the most advance technology that is bad news to the technology sector hence the sell-down on Chinese tech companies yesterday.
- Back home, the FBM KLCI weakened to just below the 1,450 mark despite BNM’s decision to maintain the OPR which we deem as good news for the equity market.
- Nonetheless, we suspect overall sentiment would still be determine by the FOMC meeting next Monday and Tuesday.
- Meanwhile, reports that EPF contributors are allowed to use their Account 2 as collateral for personal loans applications should unlock some liquidity into the market that may act as a temporary reprieve to many with cashflow difficulties.
- However, we expect trading should remain lackluster on the local bourse and expect the index to trend between the 1,450-1,460 range with some accumulation on the Construction and Telco related stocks today.
