Weekly Market Update - 24 August 2015

Market Outlook

Equity Market Outlook

• Market continued to see heightened volatility due to uncertainties surrounding a number of issues such as the expected Fed rate hike, falling commodity prices and China devaluation fears.
• For funds with regional exposure, we adopted a more defensive portfolio position.
• Meanwhile for funds with local exposure, we maintained the bottom-up stock picking strategy.

Fixed Income Outlook

• The bond market traded lower on poor sentiment precipitated by the weak ringgit and the global equity rout. Yields across the sovereign curve rose, with the long end hit the worse. The 10-year benchmark rose 15 bps whilst the 20-year rose 20 bps. We foresee currency volatility ahead due to the uncertainty in the Asian emerging markets.
• July inflation rose to 3.3%, better than the expected 2.9%. We think this some of this inflation has been imported due to the severely weak ringgit. 

Source: Lipper for Investment Management, as at 21 August 2015
 

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