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.