Market opens lower with new government in place

Bursa Malaysia is trading for the first time since Tuesday, May 8, 2018, the day before Malaysia's 14th general election.

Bursa opened lower on Monday morning and was down 32.77 points to 1,813.74.

Effectively, the market was closed for five days, including the weekend and the extra two days leave granted by the new Pakatan Harapan government.

Late Sunday, the Employers Providend Fund (EPF) stated that they were confident that the long-term investment growth of the country is going to be good. But they did state that early short term knee-jerk reactions could see some sell-off.

A CIMB Research note says that the unexpected election outcome will lead to short-term uncertainties but positive in the long term if the new government carries out institutional and political reforms.

CIMB Research says that High-beta, cyclical sectors, and stocks perceived to have strong political connections with the previous BN government will likely be sold down in the near-term.

CIMB has lowered their end-2018F KLCI target to 1,820 points as they cut their target P/E to 15.4x or 1 s.d. below its historical average P/E to reflect short-term uncertainties.

Meanwhile, the ringgit slipped as much as 0.9 percent, the most since Nov. 2016, to 3.9860, before trading at 3.9862 at 8:40 am local time.