KUALA LUMPUR (May 17): Ringgit is poised for a third week of losses, as a stronger dollar and equity outflows hurt sentiment.

The positive impact from the central bank’s market liberalization measures has proved fleeting.

* USD/MYR rises 0.2% Friday and 0.4% this week to 4.1720

** Support 4.1500, 4.1413, 4.1252; resistance 4.1785, 4.1875,
4.1925

** NOTE: MYR climbed 0.2% Thursday as BNM introduced a series of measures to deepen onshore markets after FTSE Russell raised concerns about accessibility to Malaysian bonds

* Ringgit is likely to rise to 4.10/USD by end-2Q, with policy makers expected to continue their efforts to tackle issues raised by FTSE Russell, Maybank analysts led by Saktiandi Supaat wrote in a note Thursday

** Sees immediate support for USD/MYR at 4.15 followed by 4.1450

* Overseas investors withdrew $151.9m from Malaysian equities in the first three days of this week, after pulling money in each of the past seven weeks

* 10-year govt bond yield is steady at 3.82%

* Onshore yields are expected to be range bound with a downward bias in the near term due to the lower global interest-rate outlook, says Angus Salim Amran, head of financial markets at RHB Investment Bank in Kuala Lumpur

** U.S.-China trade tensions will also fuel demand for bonds, and the 10-year Malaysian govt yield may break its recent low of 3.75% to test 3.60%

* 1Q GDP +4.5% y/y vs est. +4.3% and +4.7% prior, official data showed Thursday

* Current-account surplus widened to RM16.4b in 1Q, biggest since 2014

* Govt will use RM203.3m collected from donations by citizens to repay some of state fund 1MDB’s debt: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng