Market Forecast for KLCI Malaysia: Thursday, 19 May 2016

The FBMKLCi closed in Green for the second consecutive day on Wednesday closing at the level of 1635. The traders should by now have gained some confidence and are expected to reenter the market tomorrow. A bullish move above the 1638 level accompanied by boost in volume should help to close around the 1644 level. On the other hand, a bearish swipe till the 1624 level is expected.  Top Stocks for Tomorrow

 KLCI COUNTER SPECIFIC NEWS:

• AYS Ventures Bhd has slipped into the red for the fourth financial quarter ended March 31 (4QFY16), with a net loss of RM477,000 or 0.13 sen per share.The steel products trader had recorded a net profit of RM5.68 million or 1.49 sen a share for 4QFY15.
• Standard Chartered Bank expects Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to cut the overnight policy rate (OPR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 3% tomorrow.
• One of the world's major mobile operators, Norway-based Telenor Group, announced today that it has acquired a Malaysian-based licensed money services business to reinforce its financial services footprint in Asia.
• Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (Digi) will launch its 4G LTE Carnival tomorrow at all its 150 Digi Stores & Digi Stores Express nationwide.
• SP Setia Bhd is confident of achieving its sales target of RM4 billion this year, says president and CEO Datuk Khor Chap Jen.He said the sales would derive from new property launches and existing developments.
• Malaysia Packing Industry Bhd (Maypak) said a piece of land owned by the company in the city will be compulsorily acquired by the government for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) 2 project.
• EA Technique (M) Bhd foresees no challenges in its floating, storage and offloading (FSO) segment, as most of its contracts serve the downstream segment and are on long-term charters, as opposed spot charters.

GLOBAL FACTORS AND WORLD INDICES:

• Asian stock markets mostly fell today after a two-day rally and strong US data that fueled talk of an interest rate rise, while Tokyo swung back and forth following a better-than-forecast economic growth reading.
• Hong Kong stocks tumbled today, with sentiment hurt by weakness on Wall Street, following comments from Federal Reserve officials that rekindled prospects of a US interest rate rise as soon as June.
• China's benchmark stock index closed at the lowest level in 2-1/2 months today, after comments from Federal Reserve officials rekindled prospects of a US interest rate rise as early as June.
• European shares fell today, tracking losses on Asian and US stock markets that were caused by renewed expectations that the US Federal Reserve could raise rates later this year.
• Japanese stocks ended the day flat today after the yen see-sawed against the US dollar, rising and falling in strength as investors digested Japan's stronger-than-expected GDP data and US inflation.
• The US dollar rallied broadly in Asia today as a string of US economic data and bullish commentary from two Federal Reserve policymakers spurred talk of a US interest rate hike.
• Gold fell, snapping three days of gains, as bets on the Federal Reserve lifting interest rates this year ticked higher after stronger-than-expected economic data.
• Crude hit fresh 2016 highs in its march toward US$50 in Asia today, fanned by escalating wildfires in Canada's oil sands region and hopes of an easing in the oversupply.

STATISTICS:

• Consumer price inflation in South Africa rose less-than-expected in the last quarter, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 0.8%, from 0.8% in the preceding quarter and has expected South African CPI to rise 0.9% in the last quarter.
• Australia’s wage price index fell unexpectedly in the last quarter, to a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, from 0.5% in the preceding quarter and has expected Australian wage price index to remain unchanged at 0.5% in the last quarter.
• Japanese gross domestic product rose more-than-expected in the last quarter, to a seasonally adjusted 0.4%, from -0.4% in the preceding quarter whose figure was revised down from -0.3% and has expected Japan’s GDP to rise 0.1% in the last quarter.
• Produce price inflation output in New Zealand fell unexpectedly last month, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -0.2%, from -0.8% in the preceding month and has expected New Zealand PPI Output to rise 0.4% last month.