KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed mostly higher today on positive sentiment ahead of tomorrow’s conclusion by the US Federal Reserve regarding its asset buying programme, dealers said.

Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Elky Liam Kian Yap said investors hold a positive bias that the Fed would announce a mild cut in its monthly bond purchases.

“Even though everyone thinks the tapering has already been priced into the market, we expect to see some volatility in the market tomorrow after Fed  Chairman Bernanke’s speech,” he told Bernama.

He said analysts believe there would be a rally if expectations of a USUS$10 billion or USUS$15 billion cut are met, or else a sell-off might be seen.

He added that a big taper could trigger a sell-off but if tapering is delayed, stocks might rally but then go into sell-off as such a decision would indicate the economic growth is slower than the Fed’s expectation.

At close, September 2013 was up two points to 1,767.5, October 2013 and December 2013 rose three points each to 1,770 and 1,765 respectively while March 2014 was unchanged at 1,752.

Turnover fell to 4,574 lots from Tuesday’s 7,615 lots while open interest declined to 49,843 contracts from 51,902 contracts previously.

Meanwhile, the underlying FBM KLCI closed 3.54 points lower at 1,771.4. — Bernama