KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — The upward momentum on Bursa Malaysia is expected to spill over the next week, with its key index inching towards the 1,600-psychological level as investors return from their long holiday break and nibble on cheap value stocks.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim expects the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to move within the range of between 1,580 and 1,600 points next week.
“As markets, including Malaysia and Indonesia, reopen next week from a long weekend, we expect trading activities to increase back to normal levels.
“The nationwide expansion of movement control order (MCO) and strong commodity prices such as Brent crude and crude palm oil will influence sentiment in the market,” he told Bernama.
For the week-just-ended, the benchmark FBM KLCI declined 4.93 points to 1,582.52 on Wednesday from 1,587.45 registered last Friday.
During the shortened trading week as the local market was closed on Thursday and Friday in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays, the market was mainly influenced by domestic factors.
These included the nationwide expansion of MCO, the first quarter 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia, as well as sentiment towards the long weekend.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 94.58 points weaker at 11,563.04, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 80.41 points to 11,233.97, the FBM Emas Shariah Index contracted 147.43 points to 12,930.4, the FBM 70 lost 283.64 points to 14,975.84, and the FBM ACE fell 380.37 points to 7,946.16.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 46.92 points to 14,850.54, while the Plantation Index eased 23.71 points to 7,073.78, and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 3.30 points to 197.24.
The Energy Index shed 2.70 points to 897.0, the Technology Index trimmed 3.89 points to 77.38, while the Healthcare Index gained 28.39 points to 3,187.04.
Weekly turnover dwindled to 14.12 billion units worth RM8.36 billion from 33.13 billion units worth RM20.50 billion in the previous week.
Main Market volume shrank to 8.62 billion shares worth RM6.87 billion from 20.72 billion shares worth RM22.40 billion last week.
Warrants volume fell to 875.38 million units worth RM93.32 million from 1.72 billion units worth RM192.55 million previously.
The ACE Market volume fell to 4.62 billion shares worth RM1.4 billion from 10.68 billion shares worth RM3.90 billion in the week earlier. — Bernama
