PETALING JAYA: The gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to remain muted this week on a lack of interest, a dealer says.

       Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd dealer Liou Xin Hui said demand for the precious metal on the benchmark United States COMEX market was, however, expected to trade lower.

       This was because traders were factoring in interest rate hikes.

       “With the outlook for the global economy improving and as central banks prepared to raise interest rates to contain inflation, this made gold less attractive as a safe-haven asset,” she told Bernama.

       On a Friday-to-Friday basis, Bursa Malaysia Derivatives’ gold futures contracts for December 2021, January 2022, February 2022 and March 2022 all remained at RM255 per gramme.