KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): Malaysian shares and the ringgit may take the cue from US President Donald Trump's policies and crude oil prices. This followed Trump's inauguration last Friday and the weekend meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers, which agreed on a method to verify supply-cut compliance.

The agreement is crucial to support prices of the commodity, which forms a crucial portion of the Malaysian economy. Meanwhile, investors are closely following Trump's announcements on the US' economic growth measures and the country's global policies.

In Malaysia last Friday, the FBM KLCI fell 1.62 points or 0.1% to close at 1,664.89 points. The ringgit strengthened to 4.4470 against the US dollar.

In US share trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.48%, S&P 500 climbed 0.3% while Nasdaq Composite was 0.28% higher.

Reuters reported that US stocks closed higher on Friday in a modest but broad-based advance as Trump was sworn in as US president, marking the first time in more than 50 years that a new commander-in-chief has been welcomed by a rising equity market on his first day in office.

In his speech, Trump said US policy would be to buy American and hire American, reiterating what he had said many times during this campaign for the White House.

Crude oil prices rose ahead of the weekend meeting in Vienna between the OPEC and other oil-producing nations. Brent rose US$1.33 or 2.5% to US$55.49 a barrel while US oil was US$1.05 or 2% higher at US$52.42.

Today, Bloomberg reported that OPEC and other oil producers agreed on a way to monitor their compliance with last month’s historic supply deal, putting global markets on track to re-balance after more than two years of oversupply.