KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade in a quieter tone next week with the key index moving in a tight range due to the Chinese New Year (CNY) and Federal Territories (FT) holidays.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said that the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) is therefore likely to move in a narrow range at between 1,510 and 1,520 points, with immediate resistance at 1,530 and support at 1,500.
During the week, the local bourse’s movement was mainly influenced by events in Eastern Europe with tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting wherein the Federal Reserve signalled an increase in interest rates in March.
At the same time, fears over the variants of Covid-19 and surging new cases also continued to weigh on the market.
For the week just ended, Bursa Malaysia performed mostly higher on bargain hunting while tracking the movement on Wall Street, regional equity markets and commodity prices.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI fell 7.04 points to end the week at 1,520.02 from 1,527.06 last week.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was down 58.21 points to 10,901.04, the FBMT100 Index erased 58.29 points to 10,607.16, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 80.61 points to 11,580.59.
The FBM 70 dropped 113.62 points to 13,361.21, and the FBM ACE dipped 65.49 points to 6,059.03.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 3.03 points to 15,779.64, the Plantation Index eased 49.17 points to 6,650.11, and the Energy Index improved 15.31 points to 741.19.
The Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.42 of-a-point to 200.41, the Technology Index inched down 0.05 of-a-point to 80.38, and the Healthcare Index shed 65.83 points to 2,123.18.
Weekly turnover improved to 12.23 billion units worth RM9.18 billion from 12.18 billion units worth RM8.85 billion in the previous week.
The Main Market volume slipped to 7.37 billion shares worth RM7.82 billion versus 7.78 billion shares valued at RM7.79 billion.
Warrants volume expanded to 1.53 billion units valued at RM169.61 million from 1.17 billion units worth RM125.24 million previously.
The ACE Market volume increased to 3.28 billion shares worth RM1.18 billion from 3.21 billion shares valued at RM919.50 million in the previous week.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd announced that trading on the exchange would be opened for half-day only on Monday, January 31, 2022, and will be closed for the afternoon session on the eve of CNY.
However, clearing and settlement services provided by Bursa Malaysia Securities Clearing; depository services provided by Bursa Malaysia Depository; and clearing services provided by Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Clearing would continue as usual until the end of the business day, said the exchange recently.
Bursa Malaysia and all its subsidiaries will be closed on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 and Wednesday, February 2, 2022 in conjunction with the CNY and FT Day holidays.
The exchange and its subsidiaries will resume business on February 3, 2022. – Bernama, January 29, 2022
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