Daily Market Report (2 August 2024)
- Wall Street slumped as sentiment was spooked by the latest spate of economic data where many fears may be recessionary and not the soft landing that the Federal Reserve is striving for.
- The higher than expected weekly initial jobless claims and lower manufacturing index saw the US 10-year yield dipped to 3.981% indicating that funds are shifting out of equities and into bonds.
- Over in Hong Kong, the HSI closed marginally lower following the unexpected manufacturing activity data from China which shrank for the first time in 9 months.
- Back home, the FBM KLCI ended slightly lower as sellers remained very much in the forefront.
- Though surprised, we reckon prevailing unloading can also be attributed to the escalating tension in the middle east amid a regional weakness.
- As such, we believe market undertone may have turned cautious after the sell-off on Wall Street thus anticipate the index to hover within the 1,620-1,630 range today.
- Meanwhile, it is worthwhile noting that the MYR has strengthened to RM4.57/USD1 which is a YTD high against the greenback.
