•  Wall Street staged a relief rebound following President Biden’s statement that lockdown will not be implemented amid concerns over the Omicron variant.
• The DJI Average jumped by 560 points to almost the 35,500 level whilst the Nasdaq surged by 360 points.
• Notwithstanding this, we anticipate sentiments to remain jittery translating to heightened market volatility.
• As for the local bourse, we reckon the FBM KLCI movements will continue to be hampered by persistent selling by the foreign funds.
• Therefore, we do not see the index to stage any solid rebound and expect it to trend within the 1,490-1,500 range today.
• Meanwhile, crude palm oil (CPO) price closed higher in line with the recovery in soyabean oil prices and the reduction of import duty by India on CPO.

• Wall Street closed sharply lower as investors concerned with the resurgence of Covid19 cases spurred from the newfound omicron variant.
• All three indexes finished well off their lows of the day losing more than 1% respectively. The Dow lost 433.28 points to 34,932.16.
• Back home, the FBM KLCI ended 0.54% lower to 1,493.90 due to weaker regional market sentiment, driven by continued selling in selected heavyweights such as banking and O&G stocks.
• While valuations remain cheap, we do not expect the FBM KLCI to see any major movements amid the heightened market volatility and weakened sentiment, thus we anticipate it to trend within the 1,490-1,500 range for today.

• US equities closed lower on Friday weighed down by tech stocks as investors worried about the Omicron variant.
• All three main US indices declined for the week after the Fed on Wednesday interest rate to rise by the end of next year to combat surging inflation.
• As for the local bourse, the FBM KLCI surged 1.17% to 1,502.01 on Friday due to bargain hunting and window dressing activities.
• Nonetheless, we prefer to remain vigilant due to the heightened market volatility and external uncertainties.
• As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,495-1,510 range for today.

• US equities ended lower as the Fed signalled it may raise interest rates at least three times in 2022 to taper inflation.
• The DJIA and S&P500 shed 0.08% and 0.87% to end at 35,897.64 and 4,668.67 respectively. Tech stocks led the retreat in the market as investors considered the impact of the Federal Reserve's aggressive pace of interest-rate increases as it combats high inflation.
• Nasdaq fell 2.47% for its worst day since September, to end at 15,180.43.
• As for the local bourse, FBM KLCI ended marginally higher on improving market sentiment over the region.
• Nonetheless, we prefer to remain cautious despite the bargain hunting yesterday as we prefer to remain cautious due to the heightened market volatility and external uncertainties.
• Hence, we expect the benchmark index to hover within the 1,480-1,490 today.

 Wall Street rebounded following the Federal Reserves announcements of its tapering and rate hikes timeline.

With the uncertainty lifted, the DJI Average jumped by 383 points to almost the 36,000 mark whilst the Nasdaq surged by 323 points to above the 15,500 level.

Nonetheless, we reckon market volatility to heighten going forward thus expect regional markets to encounter wilder swings.

In view of this, we believe the local bourse to see more headwinds and that the FBM KLCI to experience more resistance.

Therefore, we anticipate the local bourse performance to remain subdued with the index to oscillate between the 1,475-1,485 range today.

Meanwhile, crude palm oil slumped to RM4,800/tonne  which is a 2-month low on expectation that demand is expected to weaken in the coming months.