Daily Market Report (18 March 2024)
- Wall Street ended broadly lower as the US inflation remains hot hence dashing hopes of early rate cut ahead of the FOMC meeting over the next 2 days.
- As such, the DJI Average lost 191 points while the Nasdaq declined by 155 points with the US 10-year yield edged higher to 4.308%.
- Over in Hong Kong, the HSI closed weaker as China holds its policy rate unchanged amid a slack property market.
- The HSI had tumbled by more than 300 points over the last 2 days.
- On the home front, the FBM KLCI surged past the 1,550 mark attributed to some last minute buying.
- However, we reckon market undertone may have turned cautious taking cue from Wall Street thus expect the index to hover within the 1,545-1,555 range today.
- Meanwhile, it is worthwhile to note that daily volume has improved to above the 4bn shares level as more money is being ploughed back into the blue chips of late.
- Hopefully this is sustainable as this will certainly cascade onto the smaller caps in due course.
