Malaysian Shares End Flat Amid Softer Industrial Production Growth
Malaysian shares closed flat on Wednesday, with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI at 1,714.34 points, amid slower industrial production growth in July.The country's industrial production index rose 4.7% year over year in July, according to data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia. The pace of growth was slower than the 6.5% increase recorded in the previous month and missed the consensus forecast of 5.4% tracked by Investing.com."Looking ahead, we remain cautiously optimistic that the continued AI boom/ global tech expansion will help underpin demand for Malaysia's production, whether from E&E or other tech-related sectors. This should help support IPI growth in the region of 4-5% for the full year, and real GDP growth of 4.9-5.1% for 2026. Resilient growth outlook is expected to provide the flexibility for BMM to adjust its monetary policy should growth or inflation risks surprise on the upside. We therefore foresee chance of a 25bps normalization in the OPR in the first half of next year," analysts at Hong Leong Bank wrote in a note.In corporate news, shares of Farm Price (KLSE:FPHB) shed 1% at close after it completed the transfer of the listing and quotation of its entire issued share capital and warrants from Bursa Malaysia Securities' ACE Market to the Main Market.Meanwhile, the local bourse is set to welcome a new company, with GB Bond (KLSE:GBBOND) seeking to raise 16.1 million ringgit via an initial public offering on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia.On the flip side, Bursa Malaysia will delist the entire share capital of Pimpinan Ehsan (KLSE:PEB) from the main market, effective Sept. 14.
