BNM likely to stay on hold in March: Standard Chartered

Quotes from Standard Chartered:

-Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will release its monetary policy statement on 5 March. We expect BNM to keep the policy rate unchanged at 3.25%. The tone of the statement will be closely watched. We expect it to be slightly more dovish than theprevious statement on 28 January, without alluding to an imminent action at the nextmeeting.

-In its January statement, the central bank acknowledged that inflation will be lower than expected in 2015. This expectation of lower inflation could be strengthened in the upcoming statement.

-The central bank also removed the "vigilant" wording regarding the risk of "destabilising financial imbalances". This risk may be downplayed further. The upcoming BNM annual report in mid-March may provide the next clue to the central bank's stance.