Daily Market Report (16 March 2023)
- Wall Street closed off lows after a choppy session sparked by the banking crisis that is spreading to Europe with Credit Swiss being the latest to be hit by liquidity squeeze.
- However, reports of pump priming by its shareholders eased fears as bargain hunting emerged.
- US inflation for February that came in within expectation further injected some confidence that the Feds will be more lenient with interest rates hike next week.
- As such, the DJI Average lost 281 points while the Nasdaq added 6 points as the US 10-year yield ended lower at 3.46%.
- In Hong Kong, stocks rebounded as the benchmark HSI gained 292 points on improved China’s economic activity for 1Q2023 coupled with the easing worries on the US banking crisis.
- Back home, the FBM KLCI also rebounded amid some caution as it closed above the 1,400 mark from broad-based buying.
- Nonetheless, we reckon regional equities to face with some headwinds today as most major futures are trading on a mixed note at time of writing.
- In view of this, we believe the local bourse may not be spared as the index may break below the 1,400 again with 1,385/90 as the immediate support.
- However, we advocate investors to accumulate on weakness.
- Meanwhile, crude oil prices were also affected by the banking crisis as the Brent crude declined to a 52-week low at below US$74/barrel.
