KUALA LUMPUR – A quiet week is in store for Bursa Malaysia with the key index set to move in a tight range due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays which will last until next Wednesday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said that the FBM KLCI would remain in a narrow range of around 1,600 points next week.
Market sentiment at present are mostly centred on external factors, namely the prospect of higher interest rates in the United States, rising commodity prices as well as the war in Ukraine.
The economist reckons that monetary policy divergence could also cloud the view on global growth this year with the People’s Bank of China and the Bank of Japan expected to maintain their accommodative stance in order to support their respective economies.
“It is somewhat fuzzy how these intermittent trends would translate into corporate earnings this year,” Afzanizam said, adding that investors would remain on the sidelines as there are multiple factors that might result in uncertainty.
Plus, next week is a holiday-shortened week due to the Aidilfitri celebration.
“On the plus side, there have been net purchases by foreign funds in the equity market in the past four days. That might give some relief as foreign investors may have seen some values emerging in our stocks,” he said.
Next week will see a pipeline of macro events, such as the implementation of a new minimum monthly wage of RM1,500 in Malaysia effective from Sunday, the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday, and the release of Malaysian manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data as well as the outcome of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ meeting (both scheduled for next Thursday, May 5).
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI fell 1.54 points to end the week at 1,600.43 from 1,601.97 in the previous week.
On the index board, the FBMT100 Index was 7.49 points lower at 11,120.50, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 66.92 points to 12,022.28, the FBM Emas Index slid 17.98 points to 11,466.08, and the FBM ACE retreated 146.69 points to 5,578.67, while the FBM 70 added 3.59 points to 13,772.18.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index increased 223.14 points to 8,821.01, and the Energy Index added 6.23 points to 773.74 but the Industrial Products and Services Index weakened by 4.72 points to 210.03.
The Financial Services Index gained 78.60 points to 16,926.80, the Healthcare Index shed 30.40 points to 2,049.82, and the Technology Index inched down 0.50 of-a-point to 71.33.
Weekly turnover accumulated to 12.90 billion units valued at RM10.72 billion from 11.04 billion units valued at RM8.26 billion last week.
The Main Market volume increased to 8.49 billion shares worth RM9.71 billion versus 6.33 billion shares worth RM7.37 billion in the previous week.
Warrants volume widened to 1.76 billion units valued at RM315.60 million against 1.04 billion units valued at RM160.21 million previously.
The ACE Market volume was marginally lower at 2.62 billion shares worth RM686.84 million from 2.66 billion shares worth RM729.55 million the week before.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed on May 2, 2022 (Monday) in conjunction with the Labour Day replacement holiday and will also be closed for two more days on May 3 and 4 (Tuesday and Wednesday) due to Hari Raya.
Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will resume operations on May 5, 2022 (Thursday). – Bernama, April 30, 2022
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