Bursa Malaysia likely to trade higher, retesting 1,800 level

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade firmer retesting its 1,800 level, spurred by improved sentiment in some domestic and external factors, dealers said.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd, head of Research Kenny Yee said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s five-day visit to China on Friday was seen as positive as it aims to maintain good relations with China.

“Also,lso, the 100100-days of the nenew government just came by on Aug 17 (Friday) and so far the administration looks relatively good.

“Besides that, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth figure of 4.5 per cent announced by Bank Negara Malaysia was also within our expectations,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, M&A Securities Sdn Bhd Chief Dealing Officer R Sundararajah said the FBM KLCI index is anticipated to trend higher on bargain hunting mainly in lower-liner stocks.

He said the index, which has fallen an average of 20 points during the week, is likely to appreciate as investors will be looking for attractive and cheap stocks to nibble.

“I believe investors will be taking advantage of stocks that they have sold in the week particularly in the second- and third-liners.

“The total net foreign selling in the past four trading days (until Thursday) of RM482 million will also likely reverse its trend, and the funds will start coming in again,” he told Bernama.

Sunderarajah said corporate earnings results will also be on the look-out, as they will influence the equity market particularly stocks in the FBM KLCI index, besides tracking the performance on Wall Street and regional peers.

Other geopolitical developments including trade talks between the US and China as well as the sanctions imposed by the US and Turkey on each other may move investors to the sidelines amid the uncertainty, he said.

For the week just ended, Bursa Malaysia was traded higher at between 1,780.26 and 1,785.03, on continued buying momentum in selected heavyweights and lower liners on Friday.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was 22.28 points lower at 1,783.47 from 1,805.75 previously.

The FBM Emas Index fell 150.92 points to 12,619.57 and the FBMT100 Index shrank 157.80 points to 12,389.04.

The FBM 70 was down 205.33 points at 15,388.45 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 167.84 points weaker at 12,781.04, but the FBM Ace gained 3.00 points to 5,552.40.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index contracted 187.39 points to 17,388.79, the Plantation Index declined 85.64 points to 7,627.19 and the Industrial Index was 36.45 points easier at 3,232.90.

Weekly turnover narrowed to 10.89 billion units worth RM10.67 billion from 11.93 billion units valued at RM11.07 billion previously.

Main market volume reduced to 7.19 billion shares valued at RM9.68 billion compared with 7.52 billion shares worth RM9.99 billion. — Bernama