FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) gain has shown an upward trend in the last quarter of 2023, but still underperformed overall, according to CGS-CIMB.
The research house said in its Malaysia Strategy’s December wrap-up that FBM KLCI rises for the third month in a row in December, albeit at a slower phase.
“FBM KLCI rose 0.1 month-on-month (MoM) to 1,455 points in December, the third consecutive month of gains following the 0.7% gain in Nov 23. This reduced the 2023 decline to 2.7%.
RHB IB said both average daily trading value and volume rose year-on-year (YoY) and MoM in December 2023.
“Average daily trading value rose 7.5% MoM and 20% YoY to RM2.3 billion while average daily trading volume rose 3.7% MoM and 17.7% YoY to 3.6 billion units.
“(Additionally), the market capitalisation of Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market rose 1% mom to RM1,738 billion at end-Dec 23, which was better compared to the FBM KLCI’s 0.1% MoM gain,” it added.
The research house said despite the gains, the KLCI underperformed both the MSCI Emerging Market index (up by 3.7% MoM) and the MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan Index (up by 3.3% MoM) in December 2023.
“FBM KLCI also underperformed all the other MIST (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand) markets, with Singapore’s STI (up by 5.4% MoM), Indonesia’s JCI (up by 2.7% MoM) and Thailand’s SET (down by 2.6% MoM), all posting gains in the final month of 2023,” it said in its Strategy Note today (Jan 3).
It said that the FBM KLCI underperformed all of Bursa’s other key indices for the second consecutive month, with nine of Bursa Malaysia’s 13 sectorial indices posted gains.
The three best-performing sectorial indices in Dec 23 on a mom basis were Utilities (up by 7.3%, led by YTL Power International Bhd), Healthcare (up by 6.9%, driven by Gloves) and Construction (up by 3.3%) while the three worst-performing sectors were Energy (down by 1.4%), Consumer (down by 1.3%), and Plantation (down by 0.5%).
“Among KLCI constituents, 16 companies posted share price gains, with the three best performers on a MoM basis being YTL Corporation Bhd (up by 21.9%), YTL Power (up by 7.2%), and Telekom Malaysia Bhd (up by 5.3%).
“YTL Corp and YTL Power posted strong gains due to their inclusion in FBM KLCI as well as news on YTL Power’s agreement with Nvidia Corporation,” it said.
It added the three worst performers on a MoM basis were Nestle (Malaysia) (down by 6.2%), Celcom Digi (down by 6.0%) and MR DIY (down by 5.2%).
Meanwhile, foreign investors stayed net buyers in December 2023 with net buy flows of RM0.3 billion, which was 83.5% lower than the buy flow of RM1.6 billion in November 2023.
“Local institutional investors, on the other hand, stayed net sellers in December 2023, with a net sell flow of RM56.2 million in December 2023, which was a 96.2% mom decline from net sell flow of RM1.5 billion in November 2023.
“This marked the first time in 2023 where local institutions net sold two months in a row. Local retail investors saw net sell flows contract 24.6% MoM to RM92.2 million in Dec 23, making them net sellers for six months in a row.
