BURSA HIGHLIGHTS
CPO
THE crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to trend lower on profit-taking activities after rallying to above RM5,000 a tonne, palm oil trader David Ng said.
He said, however, expectation of stronger exports in coming weeks is seen as supporting prices in the near term.
“The market is forecast to trade with an upward bias on sentiment of a strong export and lower production numbers,” he told Bernama.
The price movement next week is expected to be confined between RM4,800 and RM5,100 per tonne, he said.
Earlier, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the oil palm industry is expected to contribute an export value of RM100 billion in 2021, an increase from the RM73.3 billion recorded last year.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, December 2021 rose RM250 to RM5,437 a tonne, January 2022 surged RM270 to RM5,205 a tonne, February 2022 advanced RM256 to RM4,993 a tonne, March 2022 added RM243 to RM4,800 a tonne, and April 2022 gave up RM220 to RM4,627 a tonne.
GOLD
THE gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to remain muted, a dealer said. Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Carmen Yoon Kar Min said COMEX gold futures were expected to continue trading in a volatile and range-bound manner in the short term amid uncertainties surrounding US Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers’ interest rate hike decision.
“Traders were caught between concerns over broadening inflationary risks and the prospects of quicker interest rate hikes, which challenged bullion’s appeal as an inflation hedge. They are now looking at the midDecember policy-setting meeting to see how the Fed policymakers would respond to high inflation for market direction,” she added.
For the week just ended, the local gold futures market remained untraded on lack of demand.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, Bursa Malaysia’s gold futures contracts for November 2021, December 2021, January 2022 and February 2022 all remained at RM255.00 a gramme. Volume and open interest were nil.
Meanwhile, the price of physical gold increased RM1.16 to RM240.78 a gramme on Friday from RM239.62 a gramme a week earlier.
RUBBER
THE Malaysian rubber market is likely to remain steady in terms of prices and demand, according to a dealer.
She said market players were anticipated to monitor global economic conditions, especially regarding inflation and monetary policy tightening, as well as the outcome of the latest USChina trade talks and Covid19 developments.
“Prices are also expected to track the performance of the ringgit, regional rubber futures markets, and benchmark crude oil prices,” she said.
For the week just ended, the market closed mixed, tracking the regional rubber futures markets and oil prices.
On a weekly basis, the Malaysian Rubber Board’s (MRB) price for Standard Malaysian Rubber 20 (SMR 20) gained 26 sen to 730.5 sen per kilogramme (kg) while latex-in-bulk rose five sen to 552.0 sen per kg. At 5pm on Friday, MRB’s closing price for SMR 20 stood at 733.0 sen a kg while latex-in-bulk was at 552.0 sen a kg.
MONEY MARKET
SHORT-TERM rates are expected to remain stable on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) operations to absorb surplus liquidity from the cash market.
The average Islamic overnight interest rate stood at one per cent, while the one, two- and three-week rates stood at one, 1.82, and 1.85 per cent, respectively.
The central bank intervened on a daily basis to reduce excess funds from the financial system by conducting conventional money market tenders, repo tenders, reverse repo tenders and Islamic range maturity auction (iRMA) Qard tenders. BNM had also conducted Commodity Murabahah Programme tenders as well as Murabahah money market tenders.
The total liquidity surplus in the conventional system for the week fell to RM31.90 billion from RM34.66 billion in the preceding week, while in the Islamic system, it increased to RM18.2 billion from RM17.11 billion previously.