Weekly Market Update - 10 October 2016

Market Outlook

Equity Market Outlook

• Local market activity has been quiet in recent weeks due to uncertainty surrounding the US presidential election and possibility of Fed rate hike by the end of the year.
• We expect the recent oil price stability to continue to support local market sentiment.
• We remain positive on the local market due to political stability and higher confidence in the government to achieve its budget deficit target.

Fixed Income Outlook

• The week ended with US dollar appreciated against major currencies despite weaker-than-expected nonfarm payrolls data for September (+156k). Expectations for a December’s rate hike remained strong after Fed Vice Chairman Fischer said the US is “close to full employment” and consumption spending “should continue to support growth over the second half of the year”.
• Malaysia govvies benchmark yields rose marginally across the board in line with higher global bond yields as risk-off sentiment with sell-off across global bond markets dampened the trading interest in local bond markets. This is due to strong US economic indicators and stronger bets of a US rate hike later this year. Ringgit was supported at 4.1500-4.1550 level due to higher oil price. There was some selling pressure in the local govvies and the yield curve shifted upwards by 2-5bps. On Friday’s closing, the 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, 15-, 20- and 30-year benchmark MGS yields settled at a respective 2.88%, 3.28%, 3.46%, 3.60%, 3.98%, 4.16% and 4.49%.
• In the secondary corporate bonds market, we saw a lower volume in trading activities compared to last week, partly due to shorter trading days. About 60% of the trading volume was contributed by the GG/AAA, 37% by the AA segment and the remaining 3% by the A segment.

Source: Lipper for Investment Management, as at 7 October 2016. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance. 

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