KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 ― Bursa Malaysia is expected to rebound amid bargain hunting activities next week, driven by improved risk appetite in the market post-election.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the benchmark index is expected to trend sideways with an upside bias within the 1,450 and 1,470 range next week, with immediate resistance at 1,460 and support at 1,440.
“We believe that the trajectory of the FBM KLCI will be significantly influenced by the stability of the domestic political environment.
“Nonetheless, we reckon the possibility of bargain-hunting activities to emerge due to the cheap valuations of local equities,” he told Bernama.
Furthermore, Thong said the Brent crude oil is holding above US$85 (RM390) per barrel due to the collective efforts by Saudi Arabia and Russia in reducing output.
“From our perspective, this presents a potential opportunity for short-term activity in the oil and gas stocks,” he added.
For the week just-ended, the FBM KLCI moved in a volatile trading pattern with a fair share of influence from the domestic and external factors, including the six state elections, second-quarter corporate earnings announcements, economic data from the United States (US) and China, as well as Moody's credit rating downgrade on US banks.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI rose 11.95 points to end the week at 1,457.16 versus 1,445.21 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 77.76 points firmer at 10,695.13, the FBMT 100 Index increased 76.42 points to 10,387.3, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 47.16 points to 10,918.71, the FBM 70 Index expanded 65.77 points to 13,986.93, while the FBM ACE Index soared 90.44 points to 5,344.15.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 154.96 points to 16,296.98, the Plantation Index gained 6.52 points to 7,087.23, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.86 of-a-point to 167.36, and the Energy Index rose 5.17 points to 831.53.
Weekly turnover declined marginally to 15.33 billion units worth RM8.93 billion from 15.55 billion units valued at RM9.22 billion in the preceding week.
The Main Market volume improved slightly to 10.97 billion shares worth RM7.71 billion compared with 10.68 billion shares worth RM7.92 billion in the previous week.
Warrants turnover slid to 1.64 billion units valued at RM251.87 million versus 1.96 billion units valued at RM321.32 million last week.
The ACE Market volume declined to 2.68 billion shares worth RM963.61 million from 2.89 billion shares worth RM969.04 million previously. ― Bernama
