Disclaimer: This research should be used purely for informational purposes and is my own personal opinion. I bear no responsibility to whatever investment decisions taken by anyone with regards to this research.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) today declined by 1.1% to end at 1437 points. All markets in Asia were down, with Hong Kong declining the most (-5.6%) followed by Singapore (-2.1%), Thailand (-1.4%) and Philippines (-1.2%). Meanwhile, the Dow Jones declined 0.4%, with Germany declining by 1.4%.

There were 4 important developments today in the global and domestic economy :-

1. China announced no GDP target for this year, supporting the narrative of possibly a decline in economic growth in 2020.
   Most economists expected China to announce a 2–3% GDP target for 2020. It is safe to say that the Chinese government is anticipating a contraction in GDP growth this year without an official target. As I have mentioned yesterday, Malaysia is highly linked to China and the KLCI today declined.
2. China plans to introduces new security measures in Hong Kong to arrest the pro-democracy movement.
   In light of Hong Kong’s persistent problems of democracy, the Chinese communist government has escalated political tensions in the island state. The proposed draft national security law aims to “prohibit secession, subversion of state power, terrorism activities, and foreign interference”. 
3. United States’ May unemployment numbers look worse than expected
   Economist model suggest that 10.3m jobs could be lost in May, when 20.3m jobs were lost in April 2020.
4. The Malaysian economy could face a sharp slowdown.
   The leading indicator published by Department of Statistics Malaysia recorded largest monthly decline in Mar 2020 since Nov 1991. For the next 4 to 6 months, Malaysia is expected to experience an economic recession.

For the companies I am keeping track of, I have added Kerjaya Prospek Berhad (BUY ; Target Price: RM1.21) as I think its slightly undervalued with a potential upward movement in share price. My model valuation indicated that its fairly priced at RM1.21, assuming a decline of 5% in revenue in 2020, and growth of 6.5% yearly from 2021 to 2024.

For the Malaysian companies I am keeping track, most of them are still up. The best performing companies in terms of share price are Lotte Chemical Titan (53.4%), Padini (35.0%) and Cahya Mata Sarawak(25.0%). To date, the portfolio of companies I am keeping track on have moderated to 10.1% return (20 May 2020: 12.6%). You can have a look at the companies I am keeping track on in the Google Excel sheet here or the table below.