Bursa Malaysia is expected to rise supported by foreign funds next week
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to rise again next week, driven by continued support from foreign funds and improved market sentiment, according to analysts.
According to Bernama, Apex Securities Bhd’s Head of Research, Kenneth Leong, expects the 1,600 level to be the focus as the main index is seen to maintain that level.
He said, any decrease will be offset by the re-entry of foreign funds. Low-priced stocks also recorded moderate buying or selling following recent gains.
“For next week, investors will monitor the statement of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed) of the United States (US), Jerome Powell to get an indication of the possible duration of the rate cut and the interest rate decision by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
“We expect BNM to keep the rate unchanged for now, especially if there are no significant economic changes recently,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s Vice President of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng, expects buying to resume next week despite the short trading week.
“We expect the FBM KLCI to be in the range of 1,610 to 1,630 next week,” he said.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI rose 20.93 points to 1,611.02 from 1,590.09 last week.
During the week, the market was mostly strong in line with the better performance of the regional bourses.
On the index board, the FBM Gold Index jumped 228.59 points to 12,444.99, the FBMT 100 Index rose 214.82 points to 12,012.88, the FBM Gold Shariah Index increased 254.18 points to 12,806.88, the FBM 70 Index added 543.60 points to 18,385.49 and the FBM ACE Index rose 193.0 3 points to 5,966.31.
By sector, the Energy Index rose 31.33 points to 986.75, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 4.07 points to 199.92, the Plantation Index rose 22.92 points to 7,005.64 and the Financial Services Index added 148.71 points to 17,603.44.
For the week just ended, the trading volume rose to 23.79 billion units worth RM17.49 billion from 23.5 billion units worth RM16.91 billion in the previous week.
Main Market trading volume increased to 13.10 billion shares worth RM14.49 billion from 12.71 billion shares worth RM14.66 billion last week.
Warrant trading volume declined to 4.86 billion units worth RM693.98 million from 6.36 billion units worth RM805.4 million last week.
ACE Market trading volume rose to 5.82 billion shares worth RM2.29 billion from 4.39 billion shares worth RM1.45 billion previously.