KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia is expected to remain below its psychological level of 1,400 points next week, with the risk interests of investors continuing to be dictated by economic developments in the US and China.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that trading may remain cautious as investors were still worried over the two economic giants’ growth stories despite the mild recovery seen in the domestic equities at the end of the week due to bargain hunting.
He said the key economic data closely monitored next week would be the trade balances of China and the US.
China will also release the May Caixin services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), while the US will announce April factory orders and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) services index for May.
“We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,380-1,395 for next week,” he told Bernama.
An analyst said the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (Opec+) ministers would meet to decide on their next oil production policy steps on June 4, just a day before the June 5 US debt ceiling deadline.
He said the market projects a possible cut in production by looking at current oil prices, with Brent hovering around US$75 per barrel to boost prices, and this may be good for producer countries like Malaysia and a boost to energy stocks.
During the week, domestic and global risk sentiments have been bearish after China’s factory activity weakened further in May, underlining the economy’s shaky recovery due to volatility generated surrounding US debt ceiling deals.
The US and China are Malaysia’s largest trading partners.
During the week, Bursa Malaysia mainly traded lower.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI declined 21.72 points to end the week at 1,381.26 from last week’s 1,402.98.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 89.30 points to 10,207.17, the FBMT 100 Index slid 94.18 points to 9,908.45, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 78.17 points to 10,590.86.
In contrast, the FBM 70 Index rose 124.64 points to 13,604.64, and the FBM ACE Index gained 89.36 points to 5,070.26.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 210.48 points to 15,093.95, the Plantation Index lost 130.70 points to 6,624.56, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 4.30 points to 159.78.
The Energy Index was 2.97 points higher at 811.28.
Weekly turnover jumped to 15.20 billion units valued at RM12.90 billion versus 12.60 billion units valued at RM9.06 billion on Friday last week.
The main market volume widened to 10.20 billion shares worth RM11.50 billion compared with 8.01 billion shares worth RM7.80 billion in the previous week.
Warrant turnover shrank to 1.42 billion units valued at RM188.45 million from 1.60 billion units valued at RM222.39 million a week ago.
The ACE market volume increased to 3.57 billion shares worth RM1.21 billion from 2.95 billion shares worth RM875.29 million last week. – Bernama, June 3, 2023
