The rising geopolitical tension in the Middle East could provide some relief for the transportation and logistics sector, which benefits from higher charges, but could be inflationary when passed on to end-users.
Here is a brief recap of some corporate announcements that made the news on Friday (Jan 27), involving Revenue Group Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, Sarawak Consolidated Industries Bhd, UEM Edgenta Bhd, Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd, Perak Transit Bhd, Hextar Industries Bhd, EcoFirst Consolidated Bhd, and LYC Healthcare Bhd.
THE recovery theme was well in play even before Malaysia began its transition to the endemic phase of Covid-19 on April 1 because markets traditionally move ahead of the economy and financial results by at least six months. Some stocks began to rally in the early part of the year as investors anticipated that they would benefit from the reopening of borders. While some companies have continued to gain after the reopening of all economic sectors, profit-taking has had an effect on some stocks despite turning in a better financial performance year on year.
IT has been another eventful year for Bursa Malaysia, as the nation began transitioning to the endemic phase of Covid-19 on April 1 amid global headwinds such as high inflation, rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions. The local market along with other Asian bourses, with the exception of Singapore’s Straits Times Index is ending the year in negative territory. The FBM KLCI had lost 5.7% year to date (YTD) to 1,478.54 points on Dec 16 compared with the STI’s gain of 3.7%.