Banks may gain less from treasury

PETALING JAYA: Banks are unlikely to gain as much from their treasury activities in the second half as in the first half of the year given that the low interest rate environment will cap trading activity in the bond market.

“Equities only cover a small portion of the portfolio while trading profits from the bond market are unlikely to be as substantial as in the first half year because of the low interest rate regime,” Jupiter Securities head of research of Pong Teng Siew told StarBiz.