The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- EPF: 744,139 members invested RM29.48bil in unit trust funds
- KLCI lower in early trade but losses seen temporary
- Asian shares up slightly, yen slips as Crimea tensions ease
| EPF: 744,139 members invested RM29.48bil in unit trust funds Posted: 17 Mar 2014 01:21 AM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 744,139 members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had invested RM29.48bil in approved Fund Management Institutions (FMI) and unit trust funds as at end-2013. EPF deputy CEO (Investment) Mohamad Nasir Ab Latif said on Monday the EPF Members Investment Scheme (EPF-MIS) was an opportunity for members to grow their retirement savings. However, before deciding to participate in the scheme, he advised members to study the prospectus of the chosen fund thoroughly, because of the underlying risks. "Members also need to understand the objective of the scheme and seek advice from qualified advisers or financial planners," he said. The EPF had in June 2013 introduced a revised guideline to enhance its supervision on every appointed unit trust funds under the FMI to safeguard members' retirement savings. Mohamad Nasir pointed out this was to ensure funds were of high quality and possessed a consistent returns track record. "We stress that although the EPF approves the funds to be offered under the EPF-MIS, this does not constitute as a recommendation nor assurance on their performance. "Members always have the option of maintaining their retirement savings with the EPF, which has been able to provide stable returns every year such as the 6.35% dividend announced for 2013," he said. The EPF also announced the revised list of FMI and unit trust funds for 2014/2015 for the EPF-MIS. The revised list will take effect on April 1, 2014 until March 31, 2015. Mohamad Nasir said for the period of 2014/2015, there were 224 unit trust funds from 24 FMIs qualified to be offered under the EPF-MIS, compared with 210 from 25 FMIs as at Dec 31, 2013. Under the EPF-MIS, members can transfer, on a quarterly basis, not more than20% of the total savings from Account 1 in excess of their respective basic savings. The revised basic savings quantum, which took effect on Jan 1, 2014, refers to an amount of savings set according to age to ensure members have at least RM196,800 upon reaching the age of 55. |
| KLCI lower in early trade but losses seen temporary Posted: 17 Mar 2014 06:15 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI opened lower in early Tuesday trade on mild selling of key stocks but the broader market was firmer with advancing stocks beating decliners three to one as analysts expect market sentiment to firm up. At 9.01am, the KLCI was down 1.04 points to 1,814.12. Turnover was 31.12 million shares valued at RM11.29mil. There were 125 gainers, 44 losers and 103 counters unchanged. Hwang DBS Vickers Research said the firmer overnight close on Wall Street would enable the KLCI to extend its gains. The key US equity indices closed between 0.8% and 1.1% higher as better economic data outweighed rising geopolitical tension in Ukraine. "Technically speaking, the KLCI which rose 10 points yesterday, could climb slightly higher towards the immediate resistance threshold of 1,825 ahead," said the research house. PPB Group fell 30 sen to RM16.20 with 100 shares done and Kulim six sen to RM3.34. Petronas Gas lost six sen to RM22.94 and Petronas Chemicals three sen to RM6.60. Gamuda shed some of Monday's gains to dip four sen to RM4.50 but analysts expect the infrastructure company to be the front runner for Line 2 of the Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit project. IHH Healthcare, SP Setia and Top Glove fell three sen each to RM3.76, RM2.93 and RM5.60 respectively. Among the gainers were United Plantations rose 40 sen to RM25.55, MPI 19 sen higher at RM4.39 while Takaful gained 10 sen to RM10.60. CCM Duopharma gained eight sen to RM2.95 and CBIP seven sen to RM4.36. |
| Asian shares up slightly, yen slips as Crimea tensions ease Posted: 17 Mar 2014 05:36 PM PDT TOKYO: Asian shares inched forward and the yen slipped in early trade on Tuesday after Crimea's vote to join Russia passed relatively peacefully, but investors remained wary ahead of this week's US Federal Reserve policy review. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added about 0.2 percent in early trading, while Australian shares rose 0.6 percent. On Wall Street on Monday, US stocks turned in a solid performance, with the S&P 500 rising about 1 percent. The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on a small group of officials from Russia and Ukraine after the weekend referendum. Risk appetite improved as the threat of immediate military conflict receded for now, and market participants turned their attention back to the U.S. economic outlook and the conclusion of the Fed's two-day meeting on Wednesday. "The Federal Open Market Committee meeting will prove the main event for investors focused on central bank monetary policies," strategists at UBS said in a note to clients. "But geo-political risk also suggests that longer-term dollar bulls should not shift their underlying views on future greenback strength," they added. The Fed is expected to continue to stick to reducing its monthly asset purchases by an additional $10 billion, and could also alter its forward guidance in its statement. Fed policymakers could adopt less specific language to describe conditions under which it might tighten policy, instead of the bank's current threshold of a 6.5 percent unemployment rate for considering a rate rise. The rate now stands at 6.7 percent, though Fed officials are still signalling that rates need to stay low for some time to support the economy. The dollar was up about 0.1 percent on the day at 101.85 yen , while the euro also added about 0.1 percent to 141.82 yen. The euro was steady $1.3926, within sight of a 2-1/2-year high around $1.3967 touched on Thursday. The single currency's resilience came despite data on Monday showing a dip in euro zone inflation, the latest indicator to back the view that the European Central Bank needs to take further monetary steps to support growth. The improvement in risk sentiment took a toll on gold , which hit a six-month high on Monday before plunging more than 1 percent. It was last at $1,366.19 per ounce, well shy of the previous session's peak of $1,391.76. - Reuters |
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