KUALA LUMPUR – Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade in cautious mode next week as investors will be focusing on the upcoming Bank Negara Malaysia’s overnight policy rate (OPR) decision during the monetary policy committee’s (MPC) fourth meeting scheduled on July 5 and 6.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said that after a surprise rate hike in early May, he expects the central bank to stay put at the upcoming MPC meeting.
“Globally, we reckon that the upcoming batch of corporate earnings releases in the United States will be the key focus,” he said.
He predicts the benchmark index to move between 1,370 and 1,400 next week.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng expects investor sentiment to remain cautious in the near term and sees the increasing external volatility as a significant obstacle while at the same time encountering selling pressure by foreign funds.
“Nonetheless, the valuation of the benchmark index remains attractive with a forward price-earnings ratio of below 13 times compared with its five-year average of 17 times.
“As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend sideways with a slight upward bias within the 1,375-1,390 range for the week with immediate resistance at 1,400 and support at 1,373,” he added.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI trimmed 14.21 points to finish at 1,376.68 compared with 1,390.89 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 90.84 points to 10,141.34, the FBMT 100 Index shed 89.72 points to 9,844.00, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 100.88 points to 10,414.87, the FBM 70 Index fell 71.61 points to 13,384.58, but the FBM ACE Index rose 25.19 points to 5,068.02.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went down 111.98 points to 15,332.87, the Plantation Index was 19.79 points lower at 6,698.65, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.95 points to 156.92, and the Energy Index slid 10.99 points to 774.09.
Weekly turnover dipped to 10.63 billion units valued at RM6.44 billion from 15.54 billion units valued at RM8.25 billion in the preceding trading week.
The Main Market volume declined to 7.57 billion shares worth RM5.49 billion compared with 9.09 billion shares worth RM7.06 billion in the previous week.
Warrants turnover was lower at 868.29 million units valued at RM147.26 million versus 1.47 billion units valued at RM194.74 million last week.
The ACE Market volume weakened to 2.15 billion shares worth RM809.51 million from 4.97 billion shares worth RM989.19 million previously. – Bernama, July 1, 2023
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