KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Bursa Malaysia is expected to continue the cautious sentiment going into next week, with the benchmark index hovering within a range of between 1,495 and 1,515 points, a dealer said.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said looking ahead, the local market is not expected to see any significant events next week, with the high number of Covid-19 cases in the country likely to dampen sentiment next week.

"However, the corporate earnings season could provide some upside if financial performance recorded during the quarter ended June 2021 reveals better-than-expected results,” he told Bernama.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gained 0.2 per cent to close at 1505.1 points on Friday, bucking the trend in most Asian peers which ended the day in the red.

Adam said the local market was supported by a commendable gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 16.1 per cent year-on-year recorded in the second quarter of 2021 (Q2 2021) compared to the -0.5 per cent growth seen in the previous quarter.

"Under the FBM KLCI, Kuala Lumpur Kepong lead gainers with a 5.4 per cent gain, pushing the Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index to be the largest gainer among other sectors with a 1.5 per cent advance,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the ringgit seemed to show no appreciation against the greenback despite the fine Q2 2021 GDP performance of Malaysia.

"US President Joe Biden urged the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies to boost production quickly in an effort to tame climbing petrol prices.

"As such, these would continue to affect market sentiments and crude oil prices moving forward amid an already oversupplied market,” he said.

For the week just-ended, Bursa Malaysia swung between gains and losses during the four trading days amid heightened political uncertainties, coupled with concerns over the high local daily Covid-19 cases and the GDP data announcement.

Overall, for the local bourse, the FBM KLCI rose 15.31 points to end the week at 1,505.11 from 1,489.80 a week earlier.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 60.92 points higher at 11,015.02, the FBMT 100 Index gained 68.10 points to 10,731.73, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 55.26 points to 12,091.21.

The FBM Ace slipped 36.60 points to 7,139.38 and the FBM 70 decreased 67.87 points to 14,491.31.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.33 of-a-point to 189.02, the Plantation Index rose 87.96 points to 6,213.41, and the Financial Services Index climbed 76.64 points to 14,781.10.

The Energy Index gained 7.65 points to 720.89, the Healthcare Index improved 51.64 points to 2,754.58 but the Technology Index declined 2.68 points to 90.13.

For the shorter trading week, weekly turnover decreased to 15.28 billion units valued at RM9.67 billion from 20.23 billion units valued at RM12.59 billion in the previous week.

Main Market volume narrowed to 10.15 billion shares worth RM8.12 billion against last week’s 12.89 billion shares worth RM10.56 billion.

Warrants volume shed to 1.30 billion units valued at RM174.24 million from 1.48 billion units valued at RM199.49 million previously.

The Ace Market volume reduced to 3.59 billion shares worth RM1.36 billion versus 6.44 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion last week. — Bernama