KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 ― Bursa Malaysia is expected to stage further correction next week, driven by bearish global economic short-term outlook, a dealer said.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President and Retail Research Head Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said investors were concerned over the global oil price movement, coupled with a possible interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

He told Bernama that the investors were also concerned over the economic report by Bank Negara Malaysia last week, which stated that the domestic economyis expected grow moderately this year.

However, he said the recent positive Moody's Investors Service report on the Malaysian economy was expected to provide support for the local index.

In its report, Moody's has maintained Malaysia's sovereign rating outlook at “stable” on the back of a fiscal consolidation trend that remains intact.

Nazri Khan also expected stronger foreign participation in the local market next week due to the attractive shares valuation.

For the first two days of this week, he said the local benchmark index had been inundated by foreign funds, with an investment of about RM350 million.

On a weekly basis, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 12.55 points lower at 1,703.79.

The FBM Emas Index lost 97.57 points to 11,811.72, the FBMT100 Index fell 98.38 points to 11,513.62 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 57.04 points to 12,461.58.

On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index declined 158.37 points to 7,879.18, the Industrial Index fell 20.67 points to 3,270.52 while the Finance Index dropped 221.77 points to 14,489.40.

Weekly turnover rose to 9.48 billion units valued at RM10.40 billion, from 8.26 billion units worth RM10.30 billion last week.

Main market volume increased to 6.81 billion shares valued at RM9.98 billion, from 5.81 billion shares valued at RM9.87 billion previously.

Warrant turnover increased to 1.33 billion units valued at RM180.59 million, from 1.0 billion units worth RM181.94 million last week.

The ACE market fell to 1.33 billion shares worth RM213.08 million, from 1.44 billion shares valued at RM247.29 million previously. ― Bernama