This Week’s Top Headlines

i) Made out of titanium rather than stainless steel, Apple’s latest iPhone 15 Pro starts at a hefty price of RM5,499 and is dubbed as the “ultimate” iPhone. But does the price justify its new features?

ii) The ringgit slipped to RM4.68 on Friday’s close as US inflation rose more than expected, prompting further rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Despite the weakness, MIDF foresees the local note strengthening to RM4.24 by year end.

iii) Foreign investors have continued their net selling in the Bursa market for the 3rd consecutive week ending 8 Sept. Stocks that saw notable outflows include Public Bank, CIMB, and RHB Bank.

iv) Not Gonna Lie About Finance - Industry experts Hann Liew and Sani Hamid address more of your financial questions!

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Apple’s New iPhone 15 will be available for Malaysians on 29 September, but should you buy it?

The Pro model is built entirely on titanium and features a 48-megapixel camera with up to 3x zoom options.

It has a slightly better processor, the “A17 Pro chip with 6-core GPU,” which Apple claims is 10-20% faster than the A16 processor on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Apple has also switched to USB-C charging, so say goodbye to your lightning ports when you upgrade to iPhone 15.

Those benefits aside, there really isn’t much innovation between the iPhone 15 Pro and its predecessor.

It has the same battery size, charging speed, storage options, and screen refresh rate (120 Hz).

What’s significantly different is the price.

The new model starts at RM5,499 for 128GB, which is RM200 more expensive compared to the iPhone 14 Pro during its launch last year.

The highest tier, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, will not be available in 128GB, meaning that the base model now comes at 256GB onwards, starting significantly higher at RM6,499.

The price increase may seem like a small figure, but Apple has been gradually hiking prices while reducing the number of upgrades with each launch.

People are spending more and more while getting fewer features.

While buying a new product from Apple is satisfying, if you do not absolutely need it, opting for an older model at a cheaper price is a much better option.

Ever since the iPhone 15 was unveiled, Apple has announced price cuts on many of its predecessors, including iPhone SE, 13, 14, and 14 Plus.

If you’re still thinking of buying the new iPhone, maybe a few memes will change your mind:

Ringgit declines as US inflation rises more than expected

The US dollar edged up in late trading versus the ringgit on Thursday and Friday as US inflation rose higher than expected for August.

The latest CPI figure came in at 3.7%, slightly higher than expectations of 3.6%.

Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel, decreased to 4.3%, down from 4.7% in July.

The spike in overall inflation was due to the sharp increase in energy prices, including gas and oil, which jumped 10.5% over the past month.

Rising gas prices accounted for more than half of the increase in the overall inflation rate.

The uptick signifies that the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation is far from over, and will probably make officials consider pushing interest rates up later this year, though economists expect a pause for the upcoming FOMC meeting on 20 September.

The probabilities for a rate hike during the meeting on 1st November has jumped to 27.1%.

Since Wednesday, the dollar index has gained 0.62% while the greenback rose 0.20% against the ringgit at RM4.6823.

In the past 15 days, the local note depreciated by 0.90% against the dollar but stayed level against the Singapore dollar and rose 1.24% versus the pound sterling.

MIDF: Ringgit to appreciate to RM4.24 by year end

Despite the increased likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaning towards more rate hikes due to rising inflation, MIDF believes that the ringgit could strengthen to RM4.24 against the greenback by the end of the year.

Their justification was the rebalancing of fund flows to other parts of the world, including Malaysia.

In its monthly currency review, the research firm stated that the ringgit will be supported by China’s economic recovery and the US Fed’s less aggressive stance.

MIDF also stated that the difference in interest rates between Malaysia and the US will not negatively affect the local note.

It expects the Fed to keep its interest rates unchanged at 5.25-5.5% and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to hold the OPR steady at 3.0%.

But this prediction may be a little far-fetched, as the US economy is still running hot and Fed officials are struggling to contain inflation.

Foreign investors continue to dump Malaysian equities

Foreign investors continued their net selling streak on Bursa Malaysia for the third consecutive week, recording a net outflow of -RM27.7 million for the week ending September 8th.

This marks a slower pace of net selling compared to the prior week, which saw a net outflow of -RM113.5 million, but on a year-to-date basis, foreigners have cumulatively net sold stocks worth -RM2.70 billion.

In contrast, local institutions displayed a positive sentiment by net buying stocks amounting to RM3.29 billion.

Breaking down the sectors, the top three sectors that experienced net foreign inflows were Utilities (RM211.6 million), Property (RM40.4 million) and Energy (RM32.9 million).

The top three sectors that witnessed net foreign outflows were Financial Products & Services (-RM226.0 million), Industrial Products & Services (-RM33.5 million) and Consumer Products & Services (-RM30.2 million).

Stocks that saw notable outflows from foreign investors include Public Bank (-RM69 million), CIMB (-RM64.7 million), IHH Healthcare (-RM46.1 million) and RHB Bank (-RM29.3 million)

Local institutions have shown a keen interest in these stocks, as they acquired similar or even larger amounts of shares when compared to the profit-taking by foreign investors.

Not Gonna Lie About Finance - Industry experts answer your top money questions!

Last Sunday (10 September), I had the honor of moderating a discussion featuring esteemed financial experts Hann Liew and Sani Hamid.

Our session revolved around the anonymous questions sent by all of you through NGL. Many of them have already been addressed in the first two parts of our series, which were distributed to all patrons via WhatsApp and email.

In this session, you'll gain insights from financial experts as they tackle some of the more contentious and challenging questions.

• How much should we save for retirement? What is the minimum recommended amount?

• What is the current state of the global & local market?

• My salary is below RM2,000. How can I save more?

• Are long commute times to the office good or bad?

• Should I switch jobs to work in a bigger company?

Listen to the full replay on Spotify or YouTube.

That’s all for this week’s newsletter!

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this newsletter is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing herein shall be construed to be financial, legal, or tax advice. The opinions of this newsletter are solely that of the publisher.

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