MONEY MASTER

2015 has been a rather forgettable year for Malaysia.  The FBM KLCI closed at 1,761.25 points on 31st December 2014 but was last seen at 1,663.51 points on 23rd December 2015 before the market was closed for public holidays on 24th and 25th December....it's a drop of about 5.5%. That is before the Ringgit is being taken into consideration. The RM was one of the worst performing currencies in 2015. Chart taken from marketwatch.com   How 2016 will look like for Malaysia is the BIG QUESTION mark as we head into 2016 within a week's time. Emerging economies slowdown has been a real concern to global economy including Malaysia, especially with China. The slowdown is exerting downward pressure on commodity prices. While we are expected to see an improvement in the US economy and a moderate recovery in the Eurozone, 2016 is also the year where China is expected to see further decline in their growth. This has hurt the Asian economies as weaker global trade and softer dom...

It is official....Star Wars: The Force Awakens have smashed the US Box Office record. The previous record, was set by Jurassic World in June with $208.8m. Disney's Star Wars smashes the record for the biggest box office debut weekend in North America with ticket sales of $238m. Star Wars: The Force Awakens   The new Star Wars film has taken an estimated $517m globally in three days - putting it just behind Jurassic World's $525m tally. While it fail to top Jurassic World's global opening figures, analysts believe the space saga has a huge potential to become the biggest-selling movie of all time, especially since Jurassic World's figure has taken into account of their opening in China which was over the same weekend where it opened everywhere else. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, on the other hand will not debut in the world's second biggest cinema-going territory until 9 January.  With the trio stars from the original trilogy, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher ...

Disney will most likely to look back at their decision to buy Lucasfilm for $4 billion as a great deal now that the Star Wars franchise belonged to the Mickey Mouse company. Because even when Star Wars: The Force Awakens has just been released on the cinema not long, it's already breaking records.  The force is with the movie as it takes on the Big Screen with a Bang The movie is estimated to heads towards an opening day Friday over $100 million, and that's a record, topping Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 at $91.1 million set on its opening Friday in July 2011. With over $100 million, Star Wars $100 million is the first triple-digit million-day ever. This all comes after studio estimates showed that The Force Awakens exploded out of the box office at Thursday night previews, taking a record $57 million. Once again it beat out Deathly Hallows, Part 2 which made $43.5 million in Thursday night pre-shows in July 2011. The Force is strong with Disney on this...

The FBM KLCI index lost 10.18 points or 0.62% on Monday. FBM KLCI index dropped by 0.62% The Malaysian market seen a sharp drop as low crude oil prices and anticipation of the US interest rate decision hit the Asian market. Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1.8%, South Korea's Kospi fell 1.07%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.72%. Asian share markets. US FED RATE ANTICIPATION AND LOW CRUDE OIL PRICES HIT BURSA MALAYSIA US policy makers will meet tomorrow (Dec 15) and on Wednesday (Dec 16) to decide on the country's monetary policy. A US rate hike does not bode well for emerging Asian markets like Malaysia as investors turn their attention to US dollar-denominated assets. A US rate hike will be the country's first increase in about seven years from near-zero levels. Crude oil prices have fallen below US$40 a barrel on oversupply concerns. At the time of writing, Brent oil was trading at US$37.74 a barrel. Sentiment on crude oil als...

In 2005, it appeared that the Star Wars saga was officially over. Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox released Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which completed the prequels trilogy and tied the story back to the first film in the series. It was done...finished. Period. But then come Disney. In October 2012 the studio brokered a $4.05 billion deal to buy Lucasfilm, and with the deal came the announcement that they would be starting production on a whole new trilogy of Star Wars films that would keep the epic story going for years and years to come. Now that we are less than a week to the release of the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the question remains: How big will this be? Can Star Wars: The Force Awakens set new record in the box office? GALAXY-SIZE EXPECTATIONS? Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening on Friday is already setting records for pre-opening ticket sales....but the expectation is higher....can Star Wars beat "Avatar" in the...

The FBM KLCI index gained 4.13 points or 0.25% on Monday.  The Finance Index increased 0.42% to 14149.89 points, the Properties Index up 0.27% to 1194.87 points and the Plantation Index rose 0.38% to 7458.45 points.  The market traded within a range of 7.37 points between an intra-day high of 1675.96 and a low of 1668.59 during the session. FBM KLCI gained 4.13 points  The increase was mainly due to higher crude palm oil (CPO) prices.  Export-oriented counters such as glove counters were performing quite well today.  Top active for the day The most actively-traded counter was XOX Bhd while the leading decliner was British American Tobacco (M) Bhd.  The leading decliner was British American Tobacco (M) Bhd Bursa Malaysia's top gainer is Top Glove Corp Bhd.   Across Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.99%, while South Korea's Kospi closed 0.54% lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.15%. Reuters reported ...