Market Review

MY: The local bourse closed lower as foreign selling pressure and rising global inflation concerns weighed on sentiment. Market breadth was negative, with 790 losers outnumbering 369 gainers. Sector-wise, Energy (+0.04%) outperformed, while Technology (-2.05%) lagged the most.

US: Wall Street closed mixed, with the Nasdaq falling 1.3% and S&P 500 declining 0.5%, amid a sharp selloff in mega-cap AI stocks following reports questioning OpenAI's revenue trajectory. Meanwhile, the Dow edged up 0.1%, Brent crude settled near USD104/bbl and the 10-year Treasury yield eased to 5.2%.

The Day Ahead

US: Investors may scrutinise AI monetisation following reports that OpenAI's annualised revenue reached approximately USD50bn as of September, below the USD70bn reportedly indicated to investors. While differing revenue accounting methods may partly explain the gap, the report could intensify scrutiny over AI investment returns despite OpenAI's recent global GPT-6 rollout. Bitdeer (BTDR) remains in focus after securing offtake commitments covering over 70% of its 21.7MW A201 data centre in Johor, lifting its expected AI Cloud revenue backlog to USD2.9bn, with energisation targeted for 1Q2027.

MY: Budget 2027 takes centre stage today, with investors monitoring measures to support strategic industries and household spending. UWC could attract attention after proposing a placement of up to 5% of its issued shares to raise RM384.1m for manufacturing expansion, working capital and debt repayment, although potential EPS dilution remains a concern. DNeX could benefit from resolving its long-standing dispute with CGP over SilTerra, removing a key legal overhang. Meanwhile, LWSABAH has proposed a RM15m industrial property acquisition in Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park to support expansion. Additionally, 99SMART could benefit from higher SARA and STR allocations under Budget 2027, potentially boosting spending at value retailers.