KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia is expected to be muted with an upside bias in the coming days in view of the shortened trading week due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration, said an analyst.
Nonetheless, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said, investors would remain alert for bargain-hunting activities given the cheap valuation of the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI).
“Thus we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,415-1,435 for next week,” he said.
From the technical point of view, he forecast immediate resistance at 1,440 and support at 1,415.
Meanwhile, SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said the market would remain in defensive mode until the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next month.
“However, with the United States debt limit concerns coming into view, I think that too will weigh on risk sentiment globally. Hence, the FBM KLCI is likely to trend between 1,415 and 1,430 next week,” he said.
He also noted that the anticipation that Bank Negara Malaysia might deliver a final interest rate hike in May would also be negative for local stocks.
During the week just ended, Bursa Malaysia was traded lower as investors were cautious, taking cues from Wall Street’s negative performance and the US Beige Book data, which showed that the US economy stalled in recent weeks, with hiring and inflation slowing and access to credit narrowing.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI declined 13.02 points to end at 1,422.11 from last week’s 1,435.13.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 117.95 points to 10,450.96, the FBMT 100 Index lost 111.06 points to 10,135.71 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 167.52 points to 10,775.32.
The FBM 70 Index dropped 224.82 points to 13,645.22 and the FBM ACE Index slid 24.69 points to 5,343.49.
Sector-wise, the financial services index slipped 68.34 points to 15,665.86, the energy index shed 22.80 points to 854.99, the industrial products and services index trimmed 2.49 points to 173.16 and the plantation index ticked down 17.61 points to 6,833.52.
Weekly turnover was weaker at 12.02 billion units worth RM6.96 billion versus 14.79 billion units worth RM8.88 billion last week.
The main market volume fell to 8.10 billion shares valued at RM5.76 billion against 10.47 billion shares valued at RM7.60 billion in the previous week.
Warrant turnover shrank to 1.30 billion units worth RM191.82 million from 1.41 billion units worth RM224.74 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dropped to 2.63 billion shares worth RM1.01 billion from 3.32 billion shares worth RM1.04 billion.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed on Friday, April 21, and Monday, April 24, in conjunction with the additional Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday.
Operations will resume on Tuesday, April 25. – Bernama, April 22, 2023
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