Bursa Malaysia: KLSE Market Updates

After snapping 10 straight days of losses on Tuesday, Bursa Malaysia seemed unsettled early Wednesday as investors awaited fresh positive catalysts to spur more buying interest.

At 9.41am, the FBM KLCI was down 0.4 of a point to 1,759.278. Turnover was 342.80 million shares valued at RM152.76mil. There were 207 gainers, 172 losers and 263 counters unchanged.
The ringgit rose 0.27% to 4.226 from the previous close of 4.2375 as he US dollar stepped back from a 1 1/2-month high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday.
Malaysia, and to a lesser degree Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, remain more exposed to exchange rate risk than other developing economies in East Asia and the Pacific as global financial conditions tighten, the World Bank said.
Companies and banks in these countries have sizable external debt, although foreign exchange reserves currently appear adequate, the Washington-based multilateral lender said in a report on Wednesday.

Here are other key details of the report:

• Monetary authorities need to be prepared to tighten their policy stance if capital outflows prompt currency weakness
• In the case of depreciation pressures in China, authorities should allow greater adjustment through relative prices and closely monitor financial sector vulnerabilities as monetary policy further tightens

Pre-election budget almost a certainty for Malaysia

ONE thing is almost certain about Malaysia's 2018 budget: with only 8-9 months left before the 13th Parliament is automatically dissolved, the fiscal blueprint is invariably going to be a pre-election budget geared to boost sentiment at the polls.

Zakaria’s return to FGV still up in the air

The resumption of duty by Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd’s (FGV) suspended chieftain Datuk Zakaria Arshad seems to be hanging in the balance. In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the plantation group announced that its chief financial officer (CFO) Ahmad Tifli Mohd Talha will resume duty today. However, the announcement did not mention the status of Zakaria.

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Bursa Malaysia: Weekly Technical Trading Analysis and Forecast for week ahead

Weekly wrap of KLCI: The week started with opening 7.13 points positive, performed with buying sentiments in the beginning and maintained a mixed movement throughout and ended in a positive note. 

The FBM KLCI index gained 16.50 points or 0.89% on Friday. The Finance Index increased 0.65% to 16422.79 points, the Properties Index up 0.21% to 1337.95 points and the Plantation Index rose 1.11% to 7749.53 points. The market traded within a range of 12.87 points between an intra-day high of 1862.58 and a low of 1849.71 during the session.
The KLCI ended the week on a positive note, closing at 1862.58 points. The performance of our benchmark index was in line with overnight gains in US market as positive corporate earnings and rise in crude oil prices overshadowed the weaker performance in US new home sales data in March.
FBM KLCI Week's Performance
Open: 1862.58
High: 1862.58
Low: 1849.71
Close: 1862.58
Change (Points): 16.72
% Change: 0.90%
Market Forecast for week ahead: Market is moving by taking correction on weekly basis it is forcasted to be on positive note next week. As Malaysian government expecting economy to grow between 4.5% and 5.5% this year on the back of strong economic fundamentals. And if Malaysia achieved its fiscal target for 2015, it would be a record of six consecutive years of fiscal deficits.
Weekly Technical view on KLCI
Support 1: 1832
Support 2: 1815
Support 3: 1789
Resistance 1: 1856
Resistance 2: 1880
Resistance 3: 1890
Technical indicators: RSI for this week is 60.649 with CCI at 129.338. Besides, difference line of MACD 8.942 and crossed its signal line -1.022.
ECONOMIC FACTORS:

• Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz said any changes in Malaysia's monetary policy will be based on domestic consideration while stressing that the economy is still staying on a steady growth path. It is anticipated that the central bank may start to cut the overnight policy rate by 25 to 50 basis points.
• Interest rates hike by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) must happen this year as the uncertainty on the timing of the hike is causing volatility in regional markets.
• The ringgit’s decline is more influenced by non-economic factors and an over-reliance on oil and gas revenue, as well as political issues.
• Moody’s Investors Service today assigned a definitive A3 senior unsecured rating to the US dollar trust certificates (sukuk) issued by Malaysia Sovereign Sukuk Bhd, a special purpose vehicle established by the Malaysian government.An aggregate interest of over US$9 billion (RM32.67 billion) drawn from the issuance of Malaysia's US$1.5 billion sukuk recently signalled foreign investors' confidence in the country's long-term economy fundamentals, a treasury official said.
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) expects Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to cut the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25bps in the second half of the year, due to weaker consumer spending, investments and exports that would lead to significantly slower growth.