KLSE Daily Market Commentary

The FBM KLCI index gained 8.46 points or 0.47% on Monday. The Finance Index increased 0.30% to 16128.35 points, the Properties Index up 0.06% to 1311.71 points and the Plantation Index down 0.52% to 7743.63 points. The market traded within a range of 10.74 points between an intra-day high of 1825.76 and a low of 1815.02 during the session.

Actively traded stocks include PRIVA, INGENCO, DGB, BJCORP, SCN, WINTONI, PLABS, MPAY, GENETEC and CONNECT. Trading volume increased to 1922.61 mil shares worth RM1709.00 mil as compared to Friday’s 1644.66 mil shares worth RM1820.37 mil.

Leading Movers were ASTRO (+9 sen to RM3.19), DIGI (+14 sen to RM6.33), PETCHEM (+12 sen to RM5.60), TM (+15 sen to RM7.31) and CIMB (+7 sen to RM6.21). Lagging Movers were KLK (-44 sen to RM22.42), SKPETRO (-4 sen to RM2.33), HLFG (-22 sen to RM16.68), RHBCAP (-9 sen to RM7.84) and AMMB (-4 sen to RM6.30). Market breadth was positive with 400 gainers as compared to 383 losers.

The KLCI started the week on a positive note, closing higher at 1821.83 points. The performance of our benchmark index was in line with gains in US market on last Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that U.S. interest rates would probably be raised later this year but the pace of tightening would be gradual.

Market Closing Update

MALAYSIAN shares ended higher on Monday with the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index adding 8.46 points to close at 1,821.83.

Some 1.92 billion lots, valued at RM1.71 billion were traded. Gainers numbered 400 while losers numbered 383.

Investors fly away from U.S. stock funds at a rate last seen in 2009

U.S. stock funds have seen $44 billion in outflows in the year-to-date for their worst start to a year since 2009, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists in a note Thursday. Meanwhile, European equity funds have enjoyed $46.6 billion in inflows so far in 2015, as the table below shows.

These flows come as the S&P 500 SPX, +0.24% is down 0.1% for the year, as of midday Friday.

Dollar inches up against euro, yen as big data week kicks off

The dollar was slightly higher against the yen and the euro in Asian trade Monday, with many market participants avoiding taking strong positions ahead of key data including U.S. labor figures out later this week.

The dollar USDJPY, +0.47%  was at ¥119.24, compared with ¥119.11 late Friday in New York. The euro EURUSD, -0.28%  was at $1.0862 from $1.0891.

The euro EURJPY, +0.17%  was at ¥129.62 from ¥129.86.

The WSJ Dollar Index BUXX, +0.30% a measure of the dollar against a basket of major currencies, was up 0.12% at 87.19.

Copper Market Update

May copper HGK5, +0.16%  added a penny to $2.78 a pound. April platinum PLJ5, -1.22%  fell $12.40, or 1%, to $1,131.20 an ounce. 

June palladium PAM5, +0.40%  rose 1 cent to $742.45 an ounce, after losing around 4.9% last week.

Iran talks keep crude-oil futures under pressure in Asia

Talks over a possible relaxation of sanctions against Iran that may increase global oil supplies kept crude-oil futures near a week’s low Monday, while a supply disruption due to Saudi airstrikes on Yemen looked increasingly unlikely.

light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May CLK5, -1.45%   traded at $48.09 a barrel, down 86 cents, or 1.8%, in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude LCOK5, -0.69%  on London’s ICE Futures exchange was down 56 cents, or 1%, to $55.86 a barrel.

Gold loses ground again as data anticipation builds

Gold bid farewell to a nice win streak to end last week and on Monday, losses looked set to build as equities drew buyers, pushing the precious metal lower.

Gold for April delivery GCJ5, -0.95%  shed $11.30, or 1%, to $1,188.30 an ounce. May silver SIK5, -1.63%  lost 29 cents, or 1.7%, to $16.78 an ounce.

KLSE IForex Recommendations

TRADING TIPS :

GBP/USD hit 1.4797 during European morning trade, the pair’s lowest since March 20; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.4820, slipping 0.20%.The pound fell to one-week lows against the U.S. dollar on Friday, as demand for the greenback remained supported by the previous session’s upbeat U.S. data and as markets eyed an upcoming report on U.S. fourth quarter growth.The dollar found broad support after data on Thursday showing that the number of people filing unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week fell to a five-week low sparked optimism over the strength of the job market.




INTRADAY OUTLOOK
Support: 1.4837
Resistance: 1.4897

RECOMMENDATION:
1. Buy GBP/USD Above 1.4899-TG: 1.4919/1.4949 SL 1.4869
2. Sell GBP/USD Below 1.4835-TG: 1.4815/1.4785 SL 1.4865

INTRADAY OUTLOOK

Support: 1.0788

Resistance: 1.0848

RECOMMENDATION:

1. Buy EUR/USD Above 1.0850-TG: 1.0870/1.0900 SL 1.0820

2. Sell EUR/USD Below 1.0786 -TG:1.0766/1.0736 SL 1.0816

KLSE Stock Recommendations

MARKET UPDATES :

The FBM KLCI index lost 5.05 points or 0.28% on Friday. The Finance Index fell 0.13% to 16080.56 points, the Properties Index up 0.41% to 1310.97 points and the Plantation Index down 0.03% to 7784.12 points. The market traded within a range of 5.01 points between an intra-day high of 1818.31 and a low of 1813.30 during the session.



STOCK RECOMMENDATION :
BUY MINETECH RESOURCES AT 0.090 – 0.089 TARGET 0.095 0.099 SL 0.081

KLSE Comex Recommendations

INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY NEWS :

Gold futures retreated on Friday afternoon amid a wavering dollar, as traders awaited comments from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen later in the session. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange,gold futures for April delivery fell 5.80% or 0.48% to $1,199 a troy ounce. The decline came one day after gold reached a three-week high at $1,205.10, capping a rally precipitated by relatively dovish comments from Ms. Yellen on Mar. 18. Gold prices started trending downward on Mar. 6, after the release of a promising U.S. jobs report fueled speculation that the Fed could raise interest rates sooner than expected. Prices then dipped to a four-month low last week at 1,148.20 ahead of the Fed’s decision to remove its stance of remaining patient on the timing of a potential rate hike.

TRADING STRATEGY :

BUY GOLD ABOVE 1207 TARGET 1212 1218 SL 1201

SELL GOLD BELOW 1194 TARGET 1189 1183 SL 1200

KUALA LUMPUR MARKET UPDATE OF 30 - MARCH - 2015

Mild window dressing for key FBM KLCI stocks sent the 30-stock up nearly seven points in mid-morning Monday for the first quarter ending March 31.
At 10.30am, the #KLCI was up 6.89 points or 0.38% to 1,820.26. Turnover was 620.43 million shares valued at RM285.50mil. There were 290 gainers, 240 losers and 269 counters unchanged.
However, BIMB Securities Research expects investors to be on the sidelines with some downtrend bias. It expects the KLCI to trend between the 1,810 and 1,815 range.
In the week ended March 27, foreign funds were net buyers on Bursa Malaysia at RM352.2mil. However, they were net sellers on Friday at -RM19.2mil, the research house said.
BAT was the top gainer, up 76 sen to RM68.80, DutchLady added 22 sen to RM47.90 while Nestle gained 10 sen to RM73.90. However, GAB lost 22 sen to RM14.04.

Current Market Update

Here are the latest trading levels for Asia's major stock markets:

 Tokyo (Nikkei Average NIK, +0.65% ) up 0.8% 

 Hong Kong (Hang Seng Index HSI, +1.50% ) up 1.5% 

 Shanghai (Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +1.62% ) up 1.6% (at break) 

 Sydney (S&P/ASX 200 XJO, -1.21% ) down 1.1% 

 Seoul (Kospi SEU, +0.40% ) up 0.4% 

; Mumbai (Sensex 1, +0.88% ) up 0.7% 

 Taipei (Taiex Y9999, +0.36% ) up 0.4%

Asian Market Update

Asian markets mostly rose Monday after Wall Street's three main indexes ended last week with their first gains in five sessions, while Hong Kong and Shanghai were boosted by hopes for more Chinese economic stimulus.

The euro held its own against the dollar and yen at the beginning of a week of key events, including Greece's bailout reform proposals and the release of US jobs data, which will be pored over for clues about the Federal Reserve's plans for interest rates.

Tokyo edged up 0.26 per cent, with investors brushing off news that Japanese factory output had fallen by more than expected in February.

KLSE Malaysia Opening Market Update

Malaysia share prices opened higher on Monday with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index up 2.38 points to 1,815.75.

Volume was 108.7 million lots worth RM36.7 million.

Gainers outnumbered losers 119 to 85.

Dollar sees largest two-week decline against euro since 2012

The U.S. dollar booked its largest two-week decline against the euro since September 2012 on Friday, sliding on expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin raising interest rates later, and more gradually, than market participants had previously anticipated.

The euro EURUSD, +0.04%  traded at $1.0886, compared with $1.0880 late Thursday. The dollar traded at 119.19 yen, compared with ¥119.19 level seen late Thursday.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.03% which gauges the dollar’s strength against six major currencies, was down EURUSD, +0.04%  slightly at 97.39.

The pound GBPUSD, +0.22%  traded at $1.4907, compared with $1.4853 Thursday.

Silver Market Update

May silver SIK5, -0.99%  settled down 7.1 cents, or 0.4%, at $17.069 an ounce, leaving it with a weekly gain of 1.1%.

May copper HGK5, -1.65%  dropped 4.35 cents, or 1.6%, to $2.7675 a pound — up roughly 0.2% for the week. April platinum PLJ5, -1.19%  fell $10.40, or 0.9%, to $1,143.60 an ounce — 0.2% higher from the week-ago settlement. 

June palladium PAM5, -4.62%  gave up $32.35, or 4.2%, to $741 an ounce, losing around 4.9% for the week.

Gas Market Update

April natural gas NGJ15, -2.81%  fell 8.2 cents, or 3.1%, to $2.59 per million British thermal units, with the contract down 7% for the week. The April contract expired at the close of Nymex trading.

Gasoline Market Update

April gasoline RBJ5, -4.55%  settled at $1.798 a gallon, down 8.4 cents, or 4.5%. It was about flat for the week. April heating oil HOJ5, -3.07%  fell 6 cents, or 3.4%, to $1.7275 a gallon—down about 0.4% on the week.

Oil surrenders some Yemen-related gains, still up 5% on week

Oil futures settled lower on Friday for the first time in six sessions but still gained about 5% for the week, with strength fueled in part by an escalating conflict in Yemen.

West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery in May CLK5, -5.83%  settled at $48.87 a barrel, down $2.56, or 5% on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with the front-month contract ending about 4.9% higher for the week following a 4.5% jump on Thursday.

May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange LCOK5, -5.19%  fell $2.78, or 4.7%, to $56.41 a barrel, leaving it with a weekly gain of around 2%.

Gold logs first fall in 8 sessions

Gold futures settled with a loss on Friday, putting an end to a seven-session stretch of gains that had lifted prices to their highest level in more than three weeks.

Gold for April delivery GCJ5, -0.54%  shed $5, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,199.80 an ounce Friday on Comex. During their seven-session climb, gold futures tallied a total gain of 4.9%. For the week, prices gained 1.3%.

KLSE Daily Market Commentary

The FBM KLCI index lost 5.05 points or 0.28% on Friday. The Finance Index fell 0.13% to 16080.56 points, the Properties Index up 0.41% to 1310.97 points and the Plantation Index down 0.03% to 7784.12 points. The market traded within a range of 5.01 points between an intra-day high of 1818.31 and a low of 1813.30 during the session.

Actively traded stocks include INGENCO, ETITECH, PERISAI, ESCERAM, PRIVA, KNM, DGB, PLABS, TIGER and CAP. Trading volume decreased to 1644.66 mil shares worth RM1820.37 mil as compared to Thursday’s 2442.91 mil shares worth RM1955.08 mil.

Leading Movers were GENM (+7 sen to RM4.19), KLK (+34 sen to RM22.86), PETCHEM (+5 sen to RM5.48), GENTING (+8 sen to RM8.83) and PETDAG (+12 sen to RM19.72). Lagging Movers were ASTRO (-8 sen to RM3.10), BAT (-134 sen to RM68.04), TENAGA (-26 sen to RM14.20), DIGI (-10 sen to RM6.19) and UMW (-16 sen to RM10.72). Market breadth was negative with 354 gainers as compared to 391 losers.

The KLCI ended by 5.05 points lower at 1813.17 on the last trading day of the week, amid weaker sentiment due to rising of tension in the Middle East. The performance of our benchmark index was dragged down by selling in heavyweight counters such as Astro, BAT and Tenaga.

Market Closing Update

MALAYSIAN shares ended lower on Friday with the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index slipping 5.05 points to close at 1,813.37.

Some 1.64 billion lots, valued at RM1.82 billion were traded. Gainers numbered 354 while losers numbered 391.

KLSE Comex Recommendations

INTERNATIONAL COMMODITY NEWS :

Crude oil prices rebounded in Asia on Thursday with events in Yemen offering fresh support as Saudi Arabia and allies bomb Houthi rebel positions and President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi hangs onto power. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for May delivery rose 0.99% to $49.70 a barrel. Crude oil futures surged on Wednesday, amid increasing geopolitical risks related to the advance of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Global oil prices spiked by more than a dollar on Wednesday afternoon, as reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia is moving heavy military equipment, including artillery to its border with Yemen. The buildup came in response to the seizure of the al-Anad base, a Yemen airbase that had previously been used by U.S. troops in their fight against Al-Qaeda.




TRADING STRATEGY :
BUY GOLD ABOVE 1201 TARGET 1206 1212 SL 1195

SELL GOLD BELOW 1194 TARGET 1189 1183 SL 1200

KLSE Stock Recommendations

MARKET UPDATES :
The FBM KLCI index lost 0.68 points or 0.04% on Thursday. The Finance Index increased 0.12% to 16100.75 points, the Properties Index up 0.23% to 1305.57 points and the Plantation Index down 0.27% to 7786.49 points. The market traded within a range of 5.11 points between an intra-day high of 1820.52 and a low of 1815.41 during the session.

STOCK RECOMMENDATION :

BUY KNM GROUP AT 0.700 – 0.705 TARGET 0.750 0.850 SL 0.600

KUALA LUMPUR MARKET UPDATE FOR 27-MARCH-2015

KUALA LUMPUR: ‪#‎Bluechips‬ ended Friday morning slightly lower in lacklustre trade after the ‪#‎crudeoil‬ prices retreated and the ringgit weakened against the US dollar while investors decided to stay mostly on the sidelines.

At 12.30pm, the ‪#‎KLCI‬ was marginally lower by 0.96 of a point or 0.05% to 1,817.46. Turnover was 824.61 million shares valued at RM679.55mil. There were 267 gainers, 330 losers and 352 counters unchanged.
Reuters reported Asian stocks were mixed as rising tensions in the Middle East obscured the investment outlook, while the dollar rebounded. 

Oil prices ease as market downplays supply threat from Yemen

Oil prices fell over a percentage point on Friday as traders estimated that the threat of a disruption to world crude supplies from Saudi Arabia-led air strikes in Yemen was low.

Goldman Sachs said in an overnight note that the strikes in Yemen would have little effect on oil supplies as the country was only a small crude exporter and tankers could avoid passing its waters to reach their ports of destination.

Internationally traded Brent crude futures were trading at $58.44 a barrel at 0211 GMT, down 75 cents from their last settlement. U.S. crude was down 88 cents at $50.55 a barrel.

Weak start on Bursa as PetDag, UMW slip

 Blue chips got off to a weak start on Friday after the lacklustre overnight close on Wall Street, with Petronas Dagangan and UMW weighing on the FBM KLCI.

At 9.21am, the KLCI was down 3.14 points or 0.17% to 1,815.28. Turnover was 243.71 million shares valued at RM107.94mil.  There were 170 gainers, 108 losers and 198 counters unchanged.

JF Apex Research said following the lacklustre performance in the US, we expect the KLCI to remain sideways below the resistance of 1,830.

Meanwhile, foreign funds were net sellers until March 26 at about RM800mil but this was a vast improvement from the RM1.9bil net outflow in the first half of the month, says BIMB Securities Research.

BAT was the top loser, down RM1.18 to RM68.20 while PetDag was down 10 sen to RM19.50 while down eight sen each were UMW and RHB Cap to RM10.80 and RM7.91.

Asian markets edge higher after upbeat US data

Asian stocks crawled higher on Friday as upbeat U.S. economic data helped revive some risk appetite lost following air strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen, while the dollar rebounded.

Crude oil prices were slightly lower on the dollar's bounce after surging overnight on the escalating conflict in Yemen.

The euro was flat at $1.0883, knocked off an overnight high of $1.1052 after the encouraging U.S. data boosted the dollar.

The dollar stood was at 119.17 yen after pulling back from a five-week trough of 118.33 struck overnight against the yen, a safe-haven currency that attracts bids in times of geopolitical tension.

U.S. crude was down 1 percent at $50.87 a barrel after rallying 4.5 percent overnight.