Bursa likely to see cautious trading this week

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is likely to see cautious trading this week post-15th General Election (GE15) as lingering political risks will keep investors grounded, a dealer says.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the short-term direction of the FBM KLCI would depend largely on the stability of the local political landscape.

“As such, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend sideways in the range of 1,4301,460 next week with immediate resistance at 1,470 and support at 1,420,” he told Bernama.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said gauging the post-election market reaction is always a challenge, especially with few easy choices for Malaysians at the ballot box.

“Still, we are not expecting an earthquake reaction like we saw post-2018 election, hence, any small surprises will likely be taken in stride as the political landscape is unlikely to change too much from the present malaise,” said Innes.

He added that for now, the investors are shrugging off hawkish US Federal Reserve (Fed) speak, which should be favourable for Bursa Malaysia.

However, Innes said with little in the way of US macro catalysts between now and the non-farm payrolls forecast scheduled on Dec 2, investors could be reluctant to chase the market higher but will certainly remain in “buy-on-dip” mode given the positive reopening signs coming out of China.

On Thursday, FBM KLCI perked up 0.94 point, or 0.07&, to end at its intraday high of 1,449.32 from Wednesday’s close of 1,448.38.

Compared to a week earlier, the key index fell 18.89 points from 1,468.21 previously.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Syariah Index slipped 130.81 points to 10,398.77, the FBMT 100 Index slid 140.78 points to 10,010.81, and the FBM 70 lost 212.52 points to 12,159.50.

The FBM ACE fell 178.39 points to 4,914.92 and the FBM Emas Index dropped 137.66 points to 10,279.24.