14/01/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | JAN 14, 2026

20

MARKETS/FROM THE BROKERS

SUNBIZ presents extracts of a selection of commentaries and research reports received from stockbrokers on counters that could be of interest to investors.

DISCLAIMER: The information is extracted from stockbrokers’ commentaries and research reports and do not represent the views or opinions of Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd. It is not a solicitation, recommendation or an offer to buy or sell the equities featured. Sun Media Corporation shall not be liable or responsible for any consequences resulting from usage of the information.

[ Compiled by SunBiz Team

Perodua sees Malaysia’s 2025 vehicle TIV hitting 820,000 units KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total industry volume (TIV) is expected to reach 820,000 units for 2025, signalling the demand for vehicles remains healthy as customers continue to hunt for value, said Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua). For 2025, Perodua produced 370,370 units, up 0.6% from the 368,100 vehicles made in 2024, while sales increased 0.5% to 359,904 units from the 358,102 units registered in the preceding year. President and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad said that based on Perodua’s internal estimation, its market share now stands at 43.9%. “Also, our 370,370-unit production and 359,904-unit registration means that we have successfully broken our previous records set in 2024,” he said in a statement yesterday. In terms of individual model performance, the Perodua Bezza retains its top ranking with 100,488 units sold in 2025, followed by Perodua Axia at 84,291 units and Perodua Myvi at 72,724 units. Meanwhile, Zainal Abidin said the impact of the recent launch of QV-E and Traz to Perodua’s sales volume would only be seen in 2026. He said the entire Malaysian automotive ecosystem benefitted greatly with RM11 billion parts purchase from local vendors and at the same time empowering the country’s entrepreneurs such as Perodua’s authorised dealers and stockists. “We will continue to play our role as nation builders as we further invest in Malaysia and its people by expanding our businesses, especially in the realm of electric vehicles as well as digital offerings moving forward. “We will further strengthen the partnerships we already have while at the same time find new partnerships that will benefit the local industry specifically and the country as a whole,”he added. – Bernama

THE ringgit continued to strengthen against the US dollar yesterday, hovering towards the RM4.05 level at the close after opening at RM4.06, as the constant attack by the Trump administration against the Federal Reserve (Fed) hurt market confidence and weakened the greenback. At 6pm, the local currency rose to 4.0555/0600 versus the US dollar from Monday’s close of 4.0605/0660. Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said it remains uncertain who will succeed Fed chair Jerome Powell by the middle of this year, with expectations that the new chairman could be dovish in his assessment of the state of the economy. “By extension, this would translate into lower Federal Funds Rate this year,” he told Bernama. At the close, the ringgit traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies. It appreciated versus the Japanese yen to 2.5521/5551 from 2.5717/5754 at yesterday’s close and strengthened vis-à-vis the euro to 4.7344/7396 from 4.7435/7499 on Monday, but it edged down against the British pound to 5.4676/4737 from 5.4630/4704. The local note performed better against its Asean peers. The ringgit was higher versus the Singapore dollar at 3.1511/1549 from 3.1567/1613 at Monday’s close, gained vis-à-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 240.3/240.6 from 240.9/241.3 yesterday, advanced against the Philippine peso to 6.83/6.84 from 6.85/6.86, and improved versus the Thai baht to 12.8840/12.9036 from 12.9961/13.0195 previously. Ringgit ends higher as Trump-Fed clash hurts dollar

Exchange Rates

FOREIGN CURRENCY

SELLING TT/OD

BUYING TT

BUYING OD

1 US Dollar

4.1330 2.7810 3.2070 2.9690 4.8140 2.3900 3.2070 5.5580 5.2040 3.4500 59.5100 66.0400 53.4300 4.6700 0.0256 2.6300 42.0400 1.5300 7.0600 113.9700 111.0800 26.0500 1.4000 46.3600 13.7800 113.5500 N/A

3.9840 2.6670 3.1040 2.8840 4.6540 2.2990 3.1040 5.3770 4.9770

3.9740 2.6510 3.0960 2.8720 4.6340 2.2830 3.0960 5.3570 4.9620

1 Australian Dollar 1 Brunei Dollar 1 Canadian Dollar 1 New Zealand Dollar 1 Singapore Dollar 1 Sterling Pound 1 Swiss Franc 100 UAE Dirham 100 Bangladesh Taka 100 Chinese Renminbi 100 Danish Krone 100 Hongkong Dollar 100 Indian Rupee 100 Indonesian Rupiah 100 Japanese Yen 100 New Taiwan Dollar 100 Norwegian Krone 100 Pakistan Rupee 100 Philippine Peso 1 Euro

107.5600 3.1970 56.9500 60.7100 50.7300

107.3600 2.9970 60.5100 50.5300 4.1400 0.0176 2.4970 38.4200 1.1700 6.4400 107.9900 105.2500 23.3200 1.0200 41.9800 11.8000 N/A N/A

4.3400 0.0226 2.5070

N/A

38.6200 1.3700 6.6400 108.1900 105.4500 23.5200 1.2200 42.1800 12.2000

100 Qatar Riyal 100 Saudi Riyal

100 South Africa Rand 100 Sri Lanka Rupee 100 Swedish Krona

100 Thai Baht

Source: Malayan Banking Bhd/Bernama

Construction Overweight

IGB Bhd Neutral. Target price: RM3.30

Plantations Neutral

Jan 13, 2026: RM3.58

Source: Singapore Department of Statistics

Source: PublicInvest Research

Source: PublicInvest Research

IGB Bhd, after trading hours last week, announced that 12 Bedford Avenue Ltd and St Giles Hotel Limited; each 49.47% owned by IGB through subsidiaries Pacific Land SB, TTD Sdn Bhd, and Beswell Limited, have entered into the following agreements with a combined sale consideration of £220 million (i.e. disposal of St Giles Hotel London). We understand that the transacted price is about 4% lower than its latest valuation of the asset and expected to yield about RM452.6 million net gain to the group, which will increase the group’s earnings and net assets in FY26. We are positive with this asset monetisation exercise as the capital raised could be redeployed for its future business expansion especially for the potential new phases of retail and other commercial assets in Southkey, Johor. To recap, the group also appears to be more active in landbanking again after buying 19.7-acre land adjacent to Mid Valley Southkey for RM215 million, 12.7-acre land in Section 13, Petaling Jaya for RM360 million from Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd and the former 24.3-acre Movie Animation Parks Studios site in Bandar Meru Raya, Ipoh for RM43.7 million last year. St Giles London, reportedly has 732 rooms, and currently rated as a 3-star hotel. The hotel is strategically located at the intersection of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, adjacent to Tottenham Court Road Underground station and served by the Central, Northern and Elizabeth lines. The location offers exceptional connectivity, high footfall and close proximity to Oxford Street, Theatreland, the British Museum and London’s leading academic and medical institutions. Neutral with RM3.30 TP. – PublicInvest Research, Jan 13

ACCORDING to the Singapore Department of Statistics, the value of public and private contracts awarded in 11M’25 stood at S$45 billion; higher than the S$44.6 billion seen for the full year of 2024. Contracts awarded by the government under the residential segment saw S$9.4 billion worth of jobs dished out in 11M’25 compared to S$7.3 billion for the full year of 2024. Looking ahead, public residential contract flows may be sustained, with 19.6k Build-to-Order (BTO) flats to be launched in 2026 (compared to 19.6k and 19.7k units in 2024 and 2025) , including >4,000 flats with shorter waiting times of less than three years. Sunway Construction (Suncon) is set to benefit from the upcoming launches of Housing Development Board (HDB) flats via its precast segment, which accounted for 16% of the group’s orderbook as of end Sept 2025. Suncon’s pre-cast segment has been seeing sequential improvements in PBT margins, reaching 6.9% in Q3’25 from 3.9% in Q1’25, thanks to several projects being at peak delivery stage. Pintaras Jaya also has a foothold in some HDB-related projects in Singapore, while IJM Corp’s 45.5%-owned associate in Singapore, Hexacon Construction is involved in HDB-related projects after it secured a S$232 million contract in Bukit Merah for 1,021 units of HDB flats in Oct 2025. Hexacon Construction’s total balance orderbook stands at S$615 million. The presence of Woh Hup in Singapore also caught our attention. Woh Hup is involved in a few projects such as Union Square, W Residences Marina View, and a project at Collyer Quay. Recall that Woh Hup is the partner for IJM in one of the data centre projects in Johor. – RHB Research, Jan 13

DEC 2025 palm oil inventory rose by 7.6% MoM to 3.05 million mt to reach the highest level since Feb 2019. The bigger-than expected rise in inventories was mainly attributed to weaker domestic consumption and high carry forward stocks. Meanwhile, stock-to-usage ratio expanded from 14.5% to 15.4%. Palm oil exports registered a modest gain of 8.5% MoM to 1.3 million mt, led by stronger demand from China (+2.6%), India (+34.8%) and the US (+52.8%). For the full-year, exports fell by 9.8% YoY to 15.2 million mt, dragged by weaker demand from all major consuming countries except the US. CPO production declined 5.5% MoM to 1.8 million mt as production in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia retreated 7.8% and 2.3%, respectively. For the full-year, CPO production topped 20 million mt for the first time, with an annual growth of 4.9%. All the states contributed to the higher production. Meanwhile, FFB yield improved from 2024’s 16.7mt/ha to 17.7mt/ha while OER was slightly higher at 19.7%. Indonesia subsidises its biodiesel programme using proceeds from palm oil export levies, which are currently set at 10.0% of its monthly reference price for CPO, with the levy on more refined products ranging between 4.8% and 9.5%. Indonesia consumed 14.2 million kilolitres of palm-based biodiesel in 2025, a 7.6% increase compared to the previous year, according to Indonesia’s energy ministry. The energy ministry has allocated 15.7 million kilolitres of palm-based biodiesel for this year’s blending mandate. To support the higher biodiesel mandate of 50.0%, we expect to Indonesia to hike its palm oil export levy. – PublicInvest Research, Jan 13