KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade lower next week as cautious sentiment clouds the market with regards to trade war threats between the United States and China.

Mercury Securities Analyst, Danny Oh, said from the technical viewpoint, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) did not look good as it was currently trading closer to its support level of 1,830 and if the index were to fall below the support level, the next support level would be 1,803.

"The main factor that is significantly impacting the market now is the geopolitical tension between China and the US.

"We always look up at other markets for directions and hopefully the trade war threats will not escalate,” he told Bernama.

On Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s announcement of the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, he said this news would not have much impact towards the local market as of now given that there were more pressing issues in the external front.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI was 26.45 points weaker at 1,837.01 from 1,863.46 last week.

The FBM Emas Index fell 269.33 points to 12,776.26, FBM Emas Shariah Index declined by 337.04 points to 12,893.7 and the FBMT100 Index decreased 228.12 points to 12,620.9.

The FBM 70 lost 433.48 points to 15,167.91 and the FBM Ace tumbled 416.89 points to 5,039.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index fell 39.17 points to 3,198.5, Plantation Index lost 84.63 points to 7,916.75 and the Finance Index shed 259.04 points to 17,968.93.

Weekly turnover rose to 12.49 billion units worth RM10.68 billion from 9.81 billion units worth RM9.54 billion.

Main market volume surged to 7.23 billion units valued at RM9.36 billion from 6.53 billion shares valued at RM8.95 billion.

Warrants turnover increased to 3 billion units worth RM945.69 million from 1.57 billion units worth RM283.20 million.

The ACE market rose to 2.23 billion shares worth RM363.88 million from 1.69 billion shares valued at RM303.96 million. — Bernama