KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) is expected to trade in a tight range of between 1,515 and 1,535 next week amid a weak overall investors’ sentiment.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said investors were cautious amid rising Covid-19 cases globally since the beginning of this month.
According to the latest data from the World Health Organisation’s weekly situation report, global Covid-19 cases rose 12 per cent in the past week, with all regions reporting an increase except for the Americas and Africa.
On the domestic front, Malaysia’s vaccination efforts have been encouraging with daily doses administered reaching over 500,000 on July 22.
At the same time, the daily tally of Covid-19 cases reached a record high of 15,573 cases on July 23.
“On the economic data front, Malaysia’s exports data for June 2021 will be released next Wednesday, which is expected to record a double-digit year-on-year albeit at a slower pace amidst dissipating low-base effects,” Adam told Bernama.
The market’s major focus next week will also be the United States Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting that wraps up on Thursday.
Adam noted that the market is still expecting the meeting to produce some advancement in the discussions for a tapering of stimulus.
“The reason being is that the US has had an earlier strong vaccination drive which could perhaps prevent a wider spread of the delta variant,” he added.
For the week just ended, Bursa Malaysia was traded mostly lower mainly on the concern of the spread of Covid-19 infections.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries were closed on Tuesday for the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebration.
The FBM KLCI increased 0.96 of-a-point to end the week at 1,523.44 from 1,522.48 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 61.56 points firmer at 11,178.13, the FBMT 100 Index increased 48.29 points to 10,872.62, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 140.25 points to 12,325.16.
The FBM Ace advanced 182.66 points to 7.423.23, and the FBM 70 jumped 226.78 points to 14,721.31.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.27 points to 189.87, the Plantation Index widened 50.78 points to 6,243.54 and the Financial Services Index gave up 50.94 points to 14,844.93.
The Energy Index trimmed 2.17 points to 764.88, the Healthcare Index earned 60.05 points to 2,916.65 and the Technology Index gained 4.50 points to 89.52.
Weekly turnover decreased to 20.89 billion units valued at RM13.06 billion from 22.77 billion units valued at RM14.31 billion in the previous week.
Main Market volume narrowed to 11.57 billion shares worth RM10.17 billion against last week’s 13.32 billion shares worth RM11.04 billion.
Warrants volume went up to 1.33 billion units valued at RM139.50 million from 1.15 billion units valued at RM134.19 million previously.
The Ace Market volume narrowed to 7.99 billion shares worth RM2.74 billion from 8.28 billion shares worth RM3.13 billion last week. — Bernama
