16/01/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | JAN 16, 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

Bank Negara’s policy rate to stay at 2.75% for whole of 2026: BMI KUALA LUMPUR: BMI maintained its view that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will leave the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged at 2.75% for the rest of 2026 amid support from resilient domestic demand. In a note yesterday, the unit of Fitch Solutions said minutes from BNM’s November 2025 meeting showed that its assessment of the 2026 growth outlook remains unchanged from the September meeting, noting support from resilient domestic demand. “We are aligned with the bank and expect growth to slow from an estimated 4.6% in 2025 to 4.1% in 2026, the lower end of the BNM’s forecast of 4-4.5%,” BMI said. BMI said the central bank has little concern over inflation for now, as headline inflation has remained in line with expectations, averaging 1.4% from January to November 2025. “On account of the second phase of wage increases for civil servants in January 2026 and the second RM100 cash handout to all citizens in February, we have revised up our forecast for inflation to average 1.9% in 2026, from 1.7% previously,” it added. BMI said the revised forecast sits at the upper bound of the Malaysian government’s forecast of 1.3% to 2% but is broadly in line with its 2020-2024 average of 1.8%. The research firm has also revised its foreign exchange forecast, now expecting the ringgit to reach RM4 per US dollar by the end of 2026. “Our Americas team has lowered its rate forecast and now expects the federal funds rate to be cut by another 50 basis points to 3.25%, from the earlier projection of 3.5%. “With BNM keeping rates unchanged, this should improve yield differentials in favour of the ringgit,” BMI said. – Bernama

THE ringgit closed lower yesterday as the US dollar strengthened against other major currencies, following news that Donald Trump has no plans to remove the current Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman. At 6pm, the local currency weakened to 4.0535/0595 versus the greenback from Wednesday’s close of 4.0465/0525. Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd’s chief economist, Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, noted that the US dollar was on firmer footing, with the US Dollar Index rising 0.13% to 99.187 points. In a recent interview, Trump indicated no plans to remove the current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, despite the ongoing investigation by the Justice Department. “The news seems to provide some support to the greenback, as new candidates for the Fed chairmanship will be announced in a few weeks. “The ringgit against the US dollar oscillated within a narrow range today, between RM4.048 and RM4.0578, due to cautious sentiments in the market,” Mohd Afzanizam told Bernama. At the close, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies. It depreciated versus the Japanese yen to 2.5594/5633 from 2.5488/5526 at Wednesday’s close, weakened vis-à-vis the euro to 4.7167/7236 from 4.7146/7216 and edged down against the British pound to 5.4467/4548 from 5.4446/4526. The local note was also easier against its Asean peers. The ringgit slipped versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1491/1540 from 3.1432/1481, flat vis-à-vis the Indonesian rupiah at 239.9/240.3, and showed little changed against the Philippine peso at 6.81/6.83 from 6.81/6.82 previously. Ringgit ends lower, weighed down by stronger US dollar

Exchange Rates

FOREIGN CURRENCY

SELLING TT/OD

BUYING TT

BUYING OD

1 US Dollar

4.1200 2.7630 3.1920 2.9590 4.7910 2.3690 3.1920 5.5300 5.1740 3.4390 59.3200 65.7300 53.2600 4.6500 0.0255 2.6150 41.9400 1.5300 7.0200 113.9400 110.7400 25.9700 1.4000 46.0800 13.6400 113.1900 N/A

3.9730 2.6490 3.0920 2.8750 4.6350 2.2810 3.0920 5.3500 4.9510 3.1880 56.7800 60.4600 50.5800 4.3200 0.0225 2.4940 38.5600 1.3700 6.6000 108.1700 105.1300 23.4500 1.2200 41.9400 12.0900 107.2700 N/A

3.9630 2.6330 3.0840 2.8630 4.6150\ 2.2650 3.0840 5.3300 4.9360

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

107.0700

2.9880

N/A

60.2600 50.3800 4.1200 0.0175 2.4840 38.3600 1.1700 6.4000 107.9700 104.9300 23.2500 1.0200 41.7400 11.6900 N/A

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

Semiconductor Neutral

REITs Overweight

Aurelius Technologies Bhd Buy. Target price: RM1.17

Jan 15, 2026: RM0.88

Source: Maybank Investment Bank

Source: Bloomberg

Source: SIA, TA Research

AURELIUS Technologies Bhd has a long-standing history as a one stop manufacturing solutions provider offering a range of EMS services (product design, prototyping, test software development, SMT and offline assembly; inspection and testing). We believe ATECH’s C&I segment remains resilient with active repricing strategies ongoing to offset USD weakness. Concurrently, Customer F should remain a key growth driver into 2026, supported by high utilisation across seven lines. While the O&G and POS volumes are expected to stay muted due to cyclical headwinds and prolonged customer expansion timelines, we understand that ATECH is actively pivoting to new opportunities to mitigate cyclicality. Meanwhile, we note that P1-P3 continues to run at a high UR of 85-90%, providing stable earnings. Operational momentum at P5 is set to accelerate as the lead automotive marquee transitions into full mass production. Furthermore, three marques are currently in conditional mass production phase following successful qualification by another two out of 13 targeted brands. ATECH is targeting a 30% UR for P5 for 2026 from its current 15% baseline, supported by new and existing customers. While this automotive segment provides another growth lever for ATECH, we expect a gradual gestation period before it meaningfully contributes to the bottom line. We like ATECH for its trade diversion exposure, niche global customer base, and stable growth outlook. Key risks: reduced customer order volumes, USD headwinds, rising operating costs such as labour/utilities, absence of tax incentives. BUY with RM1.17 TP. – Maybank Investment Bank, Jan 15

THE KLREI-10-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) yield spread is 150bps, ie slightly below the historical mean following 10% compression over the past year. While spreads are no longer at previous highs, we regard the current level as supportive, with further MGS yields easing as a potential tailwind. The stable Overnight Policy Rate (OPR), at 2.75% (post July 2025 cut), remains constructive for the sector’s financing environment. Key malls of the retail M-REITs under our coverage continue to record near-full occupancy rates, supporting positive rental reversions – with management teams generally guiding for mid-single-digit rental growth in 2026. VMY2026 is a meaningful catalyst for tourist-heavy malls, which should translate into higher footfall, stronger tenant sales and improved rental reversions. Industrial REITs continue to benefit from long WALEs and the resilient demand for logistics and warehousing assets. Policy initiatives such as the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP 2030) and National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) are expected to buoy the demand for industrial space, particularly in Klang Valley, Johor and Penang. Pavilion REIT remains our top retail pick, given its tourism exposure and higher floating-rate sensitivity, while AME REIT is our preferred industrial play on structural growth in demand in Johor. – RHB Research, Jan 15

IN November 2025, the global semiconductor industry continued its strong growth momentum, with sales reaching US$75.3 billion, up 3.5% MoM and 29.8% YoY, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). This marked the 25th consecutive month of YoY growth. The healthy growth was driven by rising demand across all major product categories, with particularly strong contributions from the memory and logic segments, supported by sustained demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing applications. The global semiconductor market is expected to end 2025 on a strong footing. In terms of regional breakdown, the YoY improvement was driven by all regions except Japan, which recorded a decline of 8.9%. The strongest growth came from the Asia Pacific/All Other region (+66.1% YoY), followed by the Americas (+23% YoY), China (+22.9% YoY), and Europe (+11.1% YoY). For 11M’25, the global semiconductor sales rose 22.2% YoY to US$687.4 billion. Looking ahead, we expect the positive momentum in the semiconductor market to be sustained, with AI-related demand continuing to serve as the primary growth driver. By geography, the 3.5% MoM increase in global semiconductor sales in November 2025 was primarily driven by growth across all regions except Japan. The increase was led by Asia Pacific/All Other (+5.0%), followed by China (+3.9%), the Americas (+3%), and Europe (+1.2%). In contrast, Japan recorded a marginal decline of 0.1%. – TA Research, Jan 15