Trade Performance and Fund Flow Week Ended 18 October
- Emerging markets mostly ended on a positive note, with eight out of ten Asian stock exchanges observed ending higher, following the rally in Chinese stocks. Nonetheless, global investors remain cautious about potential market volatility arising from tensions in the Middle East and the uncertainties surrounding the approaching US presidential election. Investors also dialled back on the trimming of Fed Rate in November after the country report a solid 0.4% increase in its retail sales in September while core retail sales improved 0.7%. The MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index closed 0.4% lower week-on-week.
- China’s stock markets rebounded last week as both the Shanghai Composite Index and Shenzhen Composite Index grew 1.4% and 3.9%, respectively. Last week, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) launched two funding schemes that would see initial inflows as much as RMB800 billion into the stock market through newly created monetary policy tools. Furthermore, the country reported its GDP for the third quarter grew 4.6% year-on-year, beating the consensus forecast of 4.5% but slowed from 4.7% in the second quarter. In the same week, China’s largest state-owned lenders reduced their deposit rates for the second time this year amid record low margins and weakened profitability. Chinese banks began reducing their deposit rate in late 2022 with a broad-based reduction, and they lowered deposit rates three more times last year.
- Overall market capitalisation extended its winning streak and closed higher at RM2,045.16 bil. This represents a weekly growth of 0.6% from the previous week, with nine out of 13 sectors recording gains.
- The FBMKLCI continued to gain momentum and climbed by 0.8% week-on-week (WoW) to 1,645.99pts. The upward trend was supported by optimism surrounding the tabling of the Budget 2025, which includes a record-high government allocation of RM421 bil. Key proposals emphasise fiscal discipline, advancing the reform agenda, broadening the tax base, enhancing social support programmes, and boosting infrastructure investments.
Published Date
22 Oct 2024
Publisher
Bursa Digital Research
