Equity, currency marts to continue uptrend
Published on: Monday, January 14, 2019
By: Bernama
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s equity and foreign exchange markets have begun their uptrend, albeit at a slow pace, tracking the positive sentiment, globally, and the trend is likely to continue this week, according to economists.
The FBM KLCI gained 11.05 points or 0.66 per cent to close at 1,678.88 on Thursday and rose 4.34 points on Friday to end at 1,683.22 aided by buying interest in penny stocks and selected heavyweights.
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Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said between Monday and Thursday, foreign funds offloaded RM81.2 million, and were generally net sellers last week.
However, net inflow of RM16.4 million was noted on Wednesday and another RM64.6 million on Thursday, suggesting foreign funds were constructive on these two days.
“The positive inflow was spurred by the contents of the recent minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting which indicated that the Fed was adopting a more dovish stance in raising interest rates,” he told Bernama, adding that the central bank had become increasingly mindful that a gradual hike had a better impact on the economy.
Mohd Afzanizam also said the mid-level discussions between the United States and China which was extended by three days indicated a positive development, hence adding to the already positive sentiment worldwide.
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Going forward, he said the progress of the discussions between the two countries was key to market sentiment this week and, should the positive sentiment continue, the FBMKLCI could approach its resistance level of 1,700 points.
For the week just-ended, both these factors aided market sentiment with the benchmark FBM KLCI, on a Friday-to-Friday basis, settled 13.44 points higher at 1,683.22.
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