Local bourse expected to move sideways

Bursa Malaysia is expected to move sideways this week amid lacklustre trading, soon after the conclusion of the US Federal Reserve’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Hermana Capital Bhd chief executive officer and chief investment officer Datuk Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the local bourse’s performance would be in line with regional markets.

“The market would be affected by, among others, the US-China trade war coupled with geopolitical tensions. We expect the composite index to move towards the 1,840 level,” he told Bernama.

However, Nazri Khan said investors could actually heave a sigh of relief as the momentum in the local equities market was not as bad as the neighbouring countries’, some of which saw their key indices decline by more than 3%.

With the 14th General Election around the corner, more foreign fund inflows were expected as investors positioned themselves for a relief rally on expectations that the current government would retain power, he added.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI was 21.64 points lower at 1,841.83 from 1,863.47 last week.

The FBM Emas Index slipped 129.44 points to 12,859.29, the FBMT100 Index declined 137.59 points to 12,669.34 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 41.36 points to 13,087.44.

The FBM 70 dropped 127.17 points to 15,278.88 and the FBM Ace was down 80.97 WEEKLY FBM KLCI points to 5,228.17.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index declined 326.51 points to 17,949.38, the Industrial Index slid 5.54 points to 3,205.03, while the Plantation Index dipped 71.53 points to 7,905.71.

Weekly turnover fell to 7.08 billion units worth RM8.58bil from 9.42 billion units valued at RM9.96bil.

Main Market volume declined to 4.19 billion units worth RM8bil from 5.29 billion units worth RM9.15bil.

Warrants turnover shrank to 1.90 billion units worth RM407.34mil from 2.48 billion units valued at RM544.63mil.

The Ace Market volume slumped to 970.50 million shares worth RM165.11mil versus 1.64 billion shares worth RM254.70mil. — Bernama The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI futures (FKLI) contract is expected to trend lower next week, tracking the performance of the underlying cash market, a dealer said.

He said the FKLI traded mostly mixed last week on the back of cautious market sentiment surrounding the equity market driven by volatility in the US market.

“The cautious trading is expected to continue in tandem with the cash market, attributed to among others, the US Wall Street performance coupled with global geopolitical KUALA LUMPUR

Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is likely to trade higher in the week ahead on possible weakening of the ringgit against the US dollar, which could boost demand for local gold, said Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd Dealer Chang Hui Ying.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, May 2018 and June 2018 were unchanged and stood at KUALA LUMPUR

The ringgit is expected to depreciate further to the 3.95 level against the US dollar this week, weighed by bullish sentiment in the US.

Hermana Capital Bhd Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said US bond yield, which surpassed 3% recently, had been pushing the dollar in an upward momentum.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the local note

BONUS / RIGHTS ISSUES tensions and commodity prices,” he added.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, May 2018 and June 2018 slipped 25.50 points each to 1,835.00 and 1,832.50 respectively, September 2018 was 25 points lower at 1,831 while December 2018 stood at 1,827.50.

Turnover for the holiday-shortened week fell to 31,943 lots from 97,453 lots recorded last week, while open interest narrowed to 35,707 contracts from 57,207 contracts.

The benchmark FBM KLCI was down 9.97 points to end the week at 1,841.83. — Bernama

GOLD FUTURES

RM166.4 and RM166.5 per gramme respectively while July 2018 and new month August 2018 rose eight ticks each to RM166.9 and RM167.0 per gramme respectively.

Weekly turnover increased to 11 lots worth RM348,765 from five lots worth RM83,240 from the previous week, while open interest declined to 45 contracts from last Friday's 64 contracts. — Bernama

MONEY MARKET

weakened against the greenback to 3.9390/9420 from RM3.9170/9205 last week.

The ringgit, however, traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

It increased against the Singapore dollar to 2.9523/9548 from 2.9531/9562, appreciated vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.3389/3446 from 5.4031/4103 and strengthened against the euro to 4.7103/7154 compared with 4.7317/7375 on last Friday.

It however fell against the yen to 3.6095/6132 from 3.5834/5869. — Bernama