Month: August 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama) — Crude palm oil (CPO) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives rebounded to close higher today on the back of stronger soybean oil prices during the Asian hours, a dealer said.

Mumbai-based Sunvin Group commodity research head Anilkumar Bagani said the recovery in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean oil futures has pushed the CPO demand further today.

“However, further gains were capped by weaknesses in Chinese vegetables oil futures and a slowdown in Malaysian palm oil exports,” Bagani told Bernama.

On Aug 1-15 export data, most cargo surveyors estimated a fall. However, Intertek Testing Services data said exports for the period was up by 2.80 per cent to 533,050 tonnes from 518,520 tonnes in the same period last month.

According to cargo surveyors AmSpec Malaysia and Societe Generale de Surveillance, exports for the Aug 1-15 period declined by 1.92 per cent and 9.47 per cent, respectively, compared to the same period in July.

The slowdown in the Chinese economy also rattled global agriculture commodities, resulting in a sell-off and palm oil was no exception.

“The sell-off in crude oil was also a major reason behind Monday’s sharp decline in palm oil prices,” he said.

Bagani said CPO was trading at a discount of US$531 over CBOT soybean oils, and at a discount of US$57 per tonne over gas oil.

Meanwhile, palm oil trader David Ng said a weaker ringgit is seen as a supporting factor for higher CPO prices in the near-term.

Hence, he locates support at RM4,000 per tonne and resistance at RM4,500 per tonne.

At the close, CPO futures contracts for new spot months September 2022 improved RM62 to RM4,156 a tonne, October 2022 increased RM45 to RM4,170 a tonne, and November 2022 was RM44 higher to RM4,182 a tonne.

December 2022, January 2023 and February 2023 added RM28 each to RM4,200 a tonne, RM4,246 a tonne and RM 4,287 a tonne, respectively.

However, total volume narrowed to 54,298 lots from 58,173 lots on Monday, while open interest decreased to 237,696 from 243,414 contracts previously.

Physical CPO price for August South was unchanged at RM4,300 a tonne.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were higher this morning, in line with better sentiment in the underlying cash market.

At 9.30 am, August 2022 gained 7.5 points to 1,526.0, September 2022 rose 7.0 points to 1,512.0, while December 2022 and March 2023 added 5.0 points each to 1,510.0 and 1,503.5 respectively.

Turnover stood at 942 lots, with open interest at 36,236 contracts.

At 9.30 am, the benchmark FBM KLCI was 8.12 points higher at 1,526.90.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Bursa Malaysia extended yesterday’s gains to open higher today, driven by continued buying interest in selected heavyweights amid cautious sentiment in the regional markets, dealers said.

At 9.18 am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 4.09 points to 1,522.87 from 1,518.78 at Tuesday’s close.

The benchmark index opened 0.77 of a point higher at 1,519.55.

On the broader market, gainers led decliners 193 to 167, while 257 counters were unchanged, 1,662 untraded and six others suspended.

Turnover stood at 324.99 million units worth RM163.13 million.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the FBM KLCI yesterday staged a strong breakout, mainly fuelled by buying interest in the telecommunication heavyweights, coupled with the healthy inflow of foreign funds — five-day net foreign buying stood at RM719.8 million.

“While the global markets may keep an eye on UK’s inflation to gauge the global recession risk, we believe the local bourse should remained positive in the upcoming earnings season as the international border was uplifted in April.

“Commodities wise, both the crude oil and crude palm oil (CPO) trended lower, with the former trading around US$92 per barrel and the latter hovering slightly above RM4,100 per tonne,” it said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank added 1.0 sen to RM8.98, Public Bank advanced 2.0 sen to RM4.67, Petronas Chemicals gained 9.0 sen to RM8.84 while IHH Healthcare and CIMB were flat at RM6.49 and RM5.45, respectively.

Of the actives, Hartalega slipped 11 sen to RM1.66, Serba Dinamik eased half-a-sen to 9.0 sen while TWL Holdings and Borneo Oil were flat at 6.0 sen and 2.5 sen respectively.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 19.95 points to 10,769.48, the FBMT 100 Index perked up 19.41 points to 10,517.57, the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 22.65 points to 10,924.56, the FBM 70 fell 12.09 points to 12,768.74, while the FBM ACE increased 1.16 points to 4,969.44.

The Financial Services Index rose 21.02 points to 16,832.36, the Plantation Index bagged 29.28 points to 7,288, the Energy Index slipped 3.35 points to 654.16, and the Industrial Products and Services Index earned 0.84 of-a-point to 184.72.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The ringgit opened slightly higher against the US dollar as demand for the greenback paused overnight following a mixed US stock market, analysts said.

It was reported that some US stocks trimmed their gains but closed mostly higher.

At 9 am, the local currency edged up to 4.4630/4660 versus the greenback from Monday’s close of 4.4660/4680.

However, gains in ringgit were capped by the higher US data where building permits data in the US came higher than expected.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said this showed that the real estate market in the US is more heated than expected, which could generate inflation in the short and medium term.

“Inflation could in turn trigger further increase in interest rates. The recent bullish move marks the beginning of a possible breakout of the 2020 high resistance region.

“Meanwhile, a downside break of 4.44 could signal an entry of bearish strength and bring the US dollar-ringgit towards the 4.3650 region,” Diniz told Bernama.

Against a basket of major currencies, the ringgit was however traded mostly lower.

It marginally eased against the Singapore dollar at 3.2378/2405 from 3.2346/2365 at Tuesday’s close and slightly rose vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.3276/3301 from 3.3284/3301 previously.

The local unit declined versus the British pound to 5.4025/4061 from 5.3686/3710 yesterday and dipped against the euro at 4.5384/5415 from 4.5258/5279 at Tuesday’s close.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Bursa Malaysia erased earlier gains to close marginally lower today as profit-taking emerged in utilities as well as telecommunication companies, amid cautious performance on the regional markets, dealers said.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.62 of-a-point to end at 1,518.16 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,518.78.

The benchmark index, which opened 0.77 of-a-point higher at 1,519.55 this morning, moved between 1,516.57 and 1,527.84 throughout the day.

Market breadth was slightly negative as losers led gainers 444 to 394, while 436 counters were unchanged, 1,005 untraded, and six others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 2.72 billion units worth RM1.91 billion from 2.69 billion units worth RM2.22 billion on Tuesday.

Petronas Gas and Digi.com were among the biggest contributors to the losses in the composite index, declining 28 sen and 7.0 sen to RM17.02 and RM3.79, respectively, contributing a combined 1.87 points.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed marginally lower as inventors took profit during the final hour of trading.

“Key regional markets were higher with Chinese indices rising sharply as investors looked to more stimulus measures to boost economic growth. As for the local bourse, despite some profit-takings, we believe the market undertone remains steady due to improving investor sentiment and foreign buying support.

“Year-to-date, the local market was aided by continuous inflow of foreign funds amounting to RM7.4 billion. As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,510-1,530 for the remainder of the week, with immediate resistance at 1,530 and support at 1,500,” he told Bernama.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and CIMB were flat at RM8.97, RM4.56 and RM5.45, respectively, Petronas Chemicals slipped 3.0 sen to RM8.72, while IHH Healthcare added 1.0 sen to RM6.50.

Of the actives, Metronic Global was flat at 5.0 sen, Pegasus Heights advanced 1.0 sen to 1.5 sen, while Hartalega declined 3.0 sen to RM1.74, and TWL Holdings trimmed half-a-sen to 5.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index fell 6.01 points to 10,492.15, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 1.67 points to 10,900.24, the FBM 70 went down 14.28 points to 12,766.55, the FBM ACE dipped 19.02 points to 4,949.26, while the FBM Emas Index slid 5.69 points to 10,743.84.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 22.56 points to 16,788.78, the Plantation Index perked up 36 points to 7,294.72, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.31 of-a-point to 183.57, and the Energy Index improved 2.09 points to 659.60.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.98 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion from 1.84 billion shares worth RM1.97 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 313.18 million units valued at RM44.86 million versus 424.16 million units valued at RM54.67 million previously.

The ACE Market volume improved slightly to 432.65 million shares worth RM143.61 million from 432.09 million shares worth RM194.37 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 247.56 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (594.32 million), construction (25.80 million), technology (203.82 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (46.84 million), property (333.49 million), plantation (24.34 million), REITs (4.77 million), closed/fund (5,000), energy (98.41 million), healthcare (281.31 million), telecommunications and media (66.79 million), transportation and logistics (29.38 million), and utilities (20.30 million).

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, The ringgit ended flat against the US dollar today amid the possibility of the Federal Reserve (Fed) taking a significant interest rates adjustment to bring rising inflation under control.

At 6 pm, the local currency stood at 4.4660/4685 versus the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.4660/4680.

The United States Commerce Department data showed construction of new homes hit 18-month lows in July.

The data pointed out that new residential construction in the US fell 9.6 per cent last month to 1.45 million, suggesting that the real estate market is struggling more than expected, and this could generate further inflation.

A trader said this has further boosted the greenback’s safe-haven appeal ahead of the release of the Fed’s July meeting minutes and US July retail sales data later today that could give further clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes.

He said Fed officials have signalled the need for more hikes until inflation is under control.

“At home, market volatility is expected to continue until certainty emerges,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies today.

It rose against the Singapore dollar at 3.2315/2338 from 3.2346/2365 at Tuesday’s close and higher vis-a-vis the Japanese yen at 3.3126/3147 from 3.3284/3301 previously.

The local unit declined versus the British pound to 5.4048/4078 from 5.3686/3710 yesterday and dipped against the euro at 4.5455/5480 from 4.5258/5279.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency