During its first meeting of the year today, BNM’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to maintain the OPR at 3%, marking the fourth consecutive meeting that the committee has opted to hold the key rate.
The central bank said in a statement today that, at the current OPR level, the monetary policy stance remained supportive of the economy and is consistent with the current assessment of the inflation and growth prospects.
“The MPC remains vigilant on ongoing developments to inform the assessment on the outlook of domestic inflation and growth, and will ensure that the monetary policy stance remains conducive to sustainable economic growth amid price stability,” it said.
Meanwhile, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the OPR could stay at 3% in the near-term, premised on the expected improvement in the economy this year despite the uncertainties over inflation that hinge on the subsidy rationalisation and price control measures.
“Overall, we think the monetary policy is already in a restrictive zone with real interest rates currently standing at 1.5% against a long-term average of 0.6%.
“Perhaps, the BNM would want to see how the implementation of subsidy rationalisation would affect the overall inflation and therefore, it seems to be quite vigilant in this respect,” he told Bernama.
Afzanizam also stressed that a stable OPR would mean the cost of borrowings would remain unchanged and allow households and businesses to make better plans if they decide to relook their liability structure.
“Among the options they can look at is to refinance their liabilities especially when they took financing at a time when interest rates were at a higher trajectory,” he added.
Despite a mixed regional market performance, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 7.99 points to end the day at 1,504.10 from yesterday’s close of 1,496.11.
The highest level was last seen on Aug 30, 2022, when the index closed at 1,512.05.
The barometer index, which opened 1.05 points better at 1,497.16 this morning, moved in positive territory throughout the day at between 1,497.16 and 1,504.44.
Market breadth was bullish with advancers overwhelming decliners 690 to 360, while 431 counters were unchanged, 806 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 4.34 billion units worth RM2.88 billion from 5.16 billion units valued at RM3.33 billion yesterday.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CelcomDigi added 1 sen each to RM9.10 and RM4.25 respectively, Public Bank and Tenaga gained 2 sen each to RM4.37 and RM10.52 respectively, CIMB rose 10 sen to RM6.12, and IHH Healthcare climbed 7 sen to RM6.07.
Of the actives, Widad Group inched down 0.5 sen to 18 sen, MRCB and YNH Property increased 4.5 sen each to 58 sen and 65.5 sen respectively, while Handal Energy slipped 1 sen to 10 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 64.02 points to 11,208.22, the FBMT 100 Index firmed 57.29 points to 10,859.33, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 54.44 points to 11,293.29, and the FBM ACE Index added 7.54 points to 4,861.42, and the FBM 70 Index advanced 78.69 points to 15,204.41.
Sector-wise, the financial services index expanded 65.13 points to 16,766.6, the plantation index improved 35.96 points to 7,191.76, the industrial products and services index inched up 1.08 points to 174.83, and the energy index gained 11.5 points to 869.66, while the property index bagged 16.73 points to 919.87.
The Main Market volume declined to 2.57 billion units worth RM2.56 billion from 2.96 billion units worth RM2.91 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover surged to 804.39 million units valued at RM110.95 million versus 654.67 million units valued at RM81.17 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 950.38 million shares worth RM198.37 million compared with yesterday’s 1.54 billion shares worth RM333.45 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 265.59 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (505.02 million); construction (198.48 million); technology (180.88 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (77.35 million); property (752.42 million); plantation (32.79 million); REITs (19.43 million), closed/fund (11,500); energy (243.91 million); healthcare (77.12 million); telecommunications and media (28.57 million); transportation and logistics (55.19 million); and utilities (129.63 million).
Bursa and its subsidiaries will be closed on Thursday, Jan 25, in conjunction with Thaipusam. Operations will resume on Friday, Jan 26.