At its premier Wealth Symposium 2025 on Jan 18, Hong Leong Bank (HLB) said it anticipated a moderate growth of around 4.5% to 5% for the Malaysian economy this year, benefiting from strong economic fundamentals and an uptick in foreign investments.
This year’s symposium offered interesting insights into key economies while emphasising the importance of diversification and agility in managing wealth amidst global economic shifts.
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This year’s symposium offered interesting insights into key economies while emphasising the importance of diversification and agility in managing wealth amidst global economic shifts.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/3hjbffv5
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hong Leong Bank anticipates the Malaysian economy to grow by around 4.5 to 5% this year,
00:10benefiting from strong economic fundamentals and an uptick in foreign investments.
00:15The bank shared its economic house view on the projected moderate economic growth at
00:19the bank's Wealth Symposium 2025 held in Kuala Lumpur on January 18.
00:25The event saw a huge turnout of clients, analysts, industry experts and media personnel.
00:31The bank's head of regional wealth management, Jeffrey Yap, said the Malaysian and global
00:36economies will enter the new year with a mixed outlook led by the United States market.
00:42We believe that the US interest rate cycle has probably peaked and interest rate cut
00:46has just began this year.
00:48So next year, even though the employment numbers have been very strong, we believe the interest
00:53rate cut will continue.
00:54I think it's a very good time for investors to be looking into fixed income still.
00:58Secondly, we believe US equity markets will continue to rally, so we advise clients to
01:02buy on dip because of supported by very strong earnings and outlook of the global economy,
01:07especially driven by AI.
01:09Third, we believe the US dollar probably is going to continue to be strong in the first
01:14half of this year on the back of a Trump presidency.
01:17But in the second half, when interest rate were to get cut again, dollar might weaken.
01:21And the fourth thing that we like is basically China.
01:25We think China probably has bottomed a little bit on the back of the policy that's come
01:31from China.
01:32We believe the market will continue to gradually go back up.
01:35But we are thinking of a look and see at the moment.
01:39Some sectors that we really like in China, especially on the consumer side and exports.
01:43He also commented that the ASEAN economies and the equity market in the region, including
01:48Malaysia, are looking good on the back of strong foreign direct investments and domestic
01:53demands.
01:54Looking at the new year ahead, the bank said it hoped that it will continue to forge partnerships
01:59with the industry players and investors, empowering them to achieve their goals.
02:04The Hong Leong Bank's Wealth Symposium is an annual event where analysts and industry
02:09experts share their economic house views for the year and provide clients with updates
02:14on global markets and investment strategies for the year ahead.
02:18This is a key extension to the bank's overall goal of enhancing its wealth management capabilities
02:24as part of its bank-wide transformation plan.