KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 2 ― The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) is likely to continue its downtrend next week, driven by bearish economic outlook on the domestic and global fronts, a dealer said.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said local equities ended lower in a lacklustre trading day on Friday due to selling pressure on heavyweights, particularly banking and glove stocks.
“Key regional markets were also in negative territory following the firmly negative cues overnight from Wall Street as investors reacted to rising inflation worries.
“We expect the benchmark index to consolidate further for next week with immediate support at 1,520 followed by the psychological support at around 1,500 while resistance at 1,550,” he told Bernama.
Yesterday, the FBM KLCI fell by 0.87 per cent or 13.32 points to close at 1,524.48, while market breadth was negative with 757 losers against 269 gainers.
“Trading on the local bourse had been rather volatile of late as the weak market undertone saw the FBM KLCI failing to break the 1,550 level. Volatility from external factors could be one of the reasons for the weak showing by the local bourse as well,” he added.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the benchmark index eased 7.58 points to end the week at 1,524.48 from 1,532.06 previously.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 51.82 points weaker at 11,224.19, the FBMT100 Index slipped 66.28 points to 10,907.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 55.96 points to 12,248.07.
The FBM 70 dropped 136.94 points to 14,874.85 while the FBM ACE eased 97.80 points to 7,064.42.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 52.43 points to 6,348.08, the Financial Services Index fell 33.36 points to 15,160.08, and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 2.37 points to 202.93.
The Healthcare Index rose 44.60 points to 2,534.47 and the Energy Index gained 9.05 points to 720.59, but the Technology Index slipped 2.43 points to 94.45.
During the week, weekly turnover decreased to 21.58 billion units worth RM15.04 billion from 23.05 billion units valued at RM15.80 billion in the previous week.
The Main Market volume weakened to 14.31 billion shares worth RM13.08 billion against last week’s 14.96 billion shares worth RM13.68 billion.
Warrants volume was higher at 1.76 billion units valued at RM280.98 billion versus 1.71 billion units valued at RM295.22 million previously.
The ACE Market volume narrowed to 5.75 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion from 6.26 billion shares worth RM1.81 billion last week. ― Bernama
