KUALA LUMPUR – Trading on Bursa Malaysia is expected to slow down in the upcoming holiday-shortened week, with markets closed on Tuesday for Merdeka.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim told Bernama that some traders may take the opportunity to go on leave on Monday for a long weekend.
“In addition, with the cabinet list already made known to the public, there will not be any major domestic event anticipated next week by investors.
“So, expect the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI to trade in the range of 1,575 to 1,595 points next week.”
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced his cabinet line-up, describing it as a management team that will work with the people.
Among them is Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, who has been reappointed finance minister, while Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali remains as international trade and industry minister with senior status, and Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed keeps his post as minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the economy.
On the global scene, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is expected to hold a meeting on Wednesday.
“If the 20th Opec and Non-Opec Ministerial Meeting is held, investors will get a sense of oil-producing countries’ reaction to US President Joe Biden’s remarks on raising production faster in order to stabilise prices,” said Adam.
He said a slew of economic and production activity data will also be released next week.
Several countries, including Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, will make known their manufacturing purchasing managers’ index data.
Thailand, Japan and South Korea will release their industrial production data the same week.
“Such data is important to gauge the level of production activity in light of supply chain bottlenecks,” said Adam.
Bursa’s strength continued throughout this week, with the barometer index climbing to a nearly three-month high yesterday.
A calmer political scene, firmer commodity prices, and a solid earnings performance contributed to the uptick in the domestic equity market.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the benchmark index rose 72.13 points to end the week at 1,590.16 from 1,518.03 previously. – Bernama, August 28, 2021
