This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 26, 2024 - March 3, 2024

This week is set to be a busy one for Malaysia, both on the corporate and legislative fronts.

The first parliament meeting of 2024 for the third term will be held from Feb 26 until March 27. In mid-February, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said the agenda for the first session of the lower house this year would deal mainly with amendments to existing legislation. He said no motion for new laws had been submitted to his office as yet.

His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, who was recently sworn in as the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, will be delivering his first speech on Monday.

On the corporate side, the earnings reporting season is peaking this week with more than 500 companies listed on Bursa Malaysia expected to release their results for the September to December 2023 period.

Banks will be the closest watched given that the financial sector has the largest weightage in the benchmark index, FBM KLCI, and is also viewed as a proxy for the economy.

Almost all the banking stocks will be announcing their FY2023 financial performance, namely, Malayan Banking Bhd, Public Bank Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Hong Leong Bank Bhd, Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, RHB Bank Bhd, Alliance Bank Bhd, Affin Bank Bhd and Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd. The banks are slated to make their announcements on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Other notable financial results include those of utility giant Tenaga Nasional Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, United Plantations Bhd, UEM Edgenta Bhd, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, IJM Corp Bhd, Nestle (M) Bhd, Genting Plantations Bhd and DRB-Hicom Bhd.

The Borneo Energy Transition Conference, one of the state’s important renewable energy conferences organised by Sarawak Economic Development Corporation’s (SEDC) unit SEDC Energy (SEDCE), will be held in Kuching on Monday and Tuesday.

Concurrently, the Offshore Technology Conference Asia (OTC Asia) 2024, a biennial conference for the region’s oil and gas sector, takes place in Kuala Lumpur from Tuesday to Friday.

According to UOB Global Economics & Markets Research, Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for Malaysia, as well as for Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and India, is set to be released on Friday.

The S&P Global PMI for February for Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam will also be revealed on the last day of the week.

Across the causeway, Singapore’s parliament will be in session from Feb 26 until March 7 to continue the discussion on the various budget measures and the unveiling of details at the Committee of Supply (COS) debates, which allow parliament to examine each ministry’s plans.

Singapore’s Aviation Festival, the region’s most important aviation technology conference, takes place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Key economic data to be announced this week include January industrial production on Monday, January lending and money supply data on Thursday, and Singapore PMI by the Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management on Saturday.

In the other parts of Asia-Pacific, India will be announcing its fourth quarter (4Q) 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, which Bloomberg estimates to grow at 6.5% for the fourth quarter and 6.8% for the full year of 2023 from 7.3% in 2022.

China’s official February manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI and Caixin China manufacturing surveys are all due on Friday.

Japan will release key data including January data on Consumer Price Index (CPI), CPI ex food and energy, retail sales and industrial production on Tuesday (Feb 27).

Taiwan will release January export orders on Tuesday, and final 4Q GDP figures, January unemployment rate and industrial production figures on Thursday (Feb 29).

Its Independence Day holiday notwithstanding, South Korea will release February trade data on Friday, with exports estimated to grow 1.8% year on year from 18% in January.

Vietnam will report its February trade data and other key monthly economic variables on Thursday, while Indonesia will announce its CPI data for the month of February on Friday.

In the US, the corporate earnings calendar will also be busy with more than 990 US firms reporting, of which 41 are listed on S&P 500, and the focus may be on big-box retailers.

US lawmakers have less than a week to pass the government funding bill and avert a partial government shutdown after March 1.

The US data calendar is also packed this week, including January new home sales figures, December S&P CoreLogic CS 20-city home price and January’s durable goods orders.

Other data includes Conference Board consumer confidence for February, second estimate for 4Q2023 GDP, January personal income and personal spending, as well as initial jobless claims.

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting, under the G20 Brazil presidency, will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Feb 28 and 29.

Key data in Europe includes the preliminary February CPI inflation for the eurozone, which Bloomberg estimates to moderate at 2.5% to 2.6% from 2.8% in January, on Friday (March 1).

At the local courts, the KL Sessions Court will continue with the corruption trial involving former Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng pertaining to a tunnel project.

Other cases are the prosecution’s appeal over former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s acquittal of abuse of power charges at the Court of Appeal and the resumption of the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-Tanore (1MDB-Tanore) trial where former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak faces 25 counts of graft in relation to the US$681 million that ended up in his personal accounts.

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