Bursa Malaysia to see cautious trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to see cautious trading, due to increasing market volatility, said Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng.

He reckoned that the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) index is likely to move sideways with an upside bias at between 1,545 and 1,565 going forward, with immediate resistance at 1,570 and support at 1,540.

“We are cautiously optimistic about the local market although there’s improvement in the regional market sentiment as profit-taking is likely to set in,” he told Bernama.

As uncertainties continue to dictate sentiments, the index is expected to remain in consolidation mode.

For the holiday-shortened week just-ended, the local bourse was mixed amid steady performance in regional markets and a decline on Wall Street on heightened concerns over the impact of persistently high inflation.

On a weekly basis, the FBM KLCI rose 4.71 points to end the week at 1,549.12 from 1,544.41 in the previous week.

On the index board, the FBMT100 Index bagged 47.81 points to 10,735.07, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 60.86 points to 11,529.27, the FBM Emas Index increased 60.57 points to 11,071.37, the FBM ACE added 0.46 of-apoint to 5,343.09, and the FBM 70 improved 120.41 points to 13,177.02.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index climbed 78.52 points to 8,257.80, the Industrial Products and Services Index went up 2.58 points to 199.37, and the Energy Index widened 64.92 points to 852.16.

The Financial Services Index trimmed 141.46 points to 16,534.37, the Healthcare Index shed 30.16 points to 1,980.94, and the Technology Index inched down 2.19 points to 65.69.

Weekly turnover decreased to 14.33 billion units valued at RM9.26 billion against 15.15 billion units valued at RM11.21 billion last week.

The Main Market volume expanded to 11.08 billion shares worth RM8.50 billion versus 10.68 billion shares worth RM10.33 billion in the previous week. Warrants volume fell to 1.31 billion units valued at RM262.61 million against 1.46 billion units valued at RM256.93 million previously.

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 1.95 billion shares worth RM496.96 million from 2.99 billion shares worth RM621.60 million the week before.