Market Review

MY: The local bourse extended its losses as escalating Middle East tensions dampened broader risk appetite, leaving regional markets to enter negative territory, including the FBM KLCI. The Energy (+1.47%) sector outperformed following the spike in oil prices, while Industrial Products (-2.47%) lagged the most.

US: Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday as renewed US military strikes on Iran sparked a sharp surge in oil prices, while a deepening sell-off in Treasuries weighed on sentiment. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq retreated by 0.8%, 0.7%, and 1.0%, respectively, while Brent crude reached USD95.2/bbl.

The Day Ahead

US: Given the sharp re-escalation of the US–Iran conflict in the Middle East, which has reignited energy supply concerns, we expect Wall Street to continue trading on a softer note. Stock-wise, we continue to favour Nvidia (NVDA) following its strong Q2 results and earnings beat, which implies that the global AI infrastructure boom shows no signs of an immediate slowdown. Meanwhile, another stock set to benefit from the AI infrastructure boom is Bloom Energy (BE), underpinned by its USD25bn AI infrastructure power-financing partnership with Brookfield and its 2.8GW procurement framework with Oracle. Lastly, investors could consider Apple (AAPL) following its upcoming foldable iPhone rollout, which will lead to ASP expansion.

MY: Tracking Wall Street’s negative overnight performance, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade on a weaker footing. Meanwhile, we continue to favour SPRITZER and LWSABAH as the ongoing haze and forest fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia, should lead to a surge in bottled drinking water consumption nationwide. As TNB has begun building its 500km, 500kV National Grid Backbone transmission line, which is also the country’s longest 500kV transmission system, we believe the new grid project will continue to benefit HV substation and underground utility engineering provider MNHLDG. Lastly, riding on the surge in oil prices, traders could target energy counters for short-term trading opportunities.