Eyes on Doha, with Bursa Malaysia tipped to trade higher next week

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia are expected to trade higher next week, supported by positive domestic and regional sentiment.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank vice-president/head of retail research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the market has been on an upward trend for the past two months, with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) forming a solid psychology level at the 1,7000 level.

“We have similar upward momentum from our crude palm oil (CPO) and rubber that support the sentiment for next week,” he told Bernama.

“The crude oil price also has stabilized, and its recovery to US$43 per barrel orchestrated well for Bursa Malaysia’s stocks.”

Nazri said China’s trade data remaining positive and solid indicated that the country is stabilising.

The upcoming Sarawak election and the Ecoworld International initial public offering (IPO) will be a domestic catalyst in supporting the local bourse’s sentiment, he added.

Nazri called on investors to accumulate the “Sarawak election theme play” counters, namely Naim Holdings and Ta Ann Holdings.

For the week just ended, the market has been on consolidation mode as expected after the previous week’s rally.

The FBM KLCI confined in tight range as sentiment turned cautious ahead of a weekend meeting of oil producers.

Oil producers led by top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia are scheduled to meet in Qatar tomorrow to discuss freezing output to rein in ballooning global over-production.

On a weekly basis, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 9.59 points higher at 1,727.99.

The FBM Emas Index rose 44.53 points to 11,997.07, the FBMT100 Index added 46.74 points to 11,693.21 while the FBM Emas Syariah Index shed 2.27 points to 12,539.76.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index soared 162.16 points to 15,034.70, the Plantation Index trimmed 36.27 points to 7,785.25, while the Industrial Index gained 25.04 points to 3,290.97.

Weekly turnover leapt to 8.17 billion units valued at RM8.65 billion from 7.78 billion units valued at RM9.60 billion last week.

Main market volume gained to 5.61 billion shares valued at RM8.21 billion from 5.13 billion shares valued at RM9.16 billion previously.

Warrant turnover jumped to 997.74 million units valued at RM130.26 million from last week’s 928.94 million units valued at RM130.12 million. The ACE market rose 1.56 billion shares worth RM305.06 million from 1.52 billion shares worth RM307.35 million, transacted previously. ~— Bernama