KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Trading in Bursa Malaysia will likely be cautious this week pending the release of several economic reports, including the European unemployment rate, China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI and the US jobless claims data.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said that as for the local bourse, the support on the benchmark index is expected to stay strong and reckoned the performance of FBM KLCI to remain steady given the cheap valuations of local stocks, the persistent inflow of foreign funds and the increasing participation by retail investors.
"Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,440-1,460 range for next week with immediate resistance at 1,460 with support at 1,440,” he told Bernama.
For the week just ended, the FBM KLCI traded in a volatile trading mainly on China factor as the People’s Bank of China cut one of its key interest rates for the second time in three months.
China’s central bank lowered its one-year loan prime rate to 3.45 per cent from 3.55 per cent.
Another dealer said investors were also monitoring the US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI declined 1.68 points to end the week at 1,444.41 versus 1,446.09 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 0.71 of-a-point to 10,662.27, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 4.26 points to 10,343.27, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 15.46 points to 10,888.97, the FBM ACE Index strengthened 10.76 points to 5,274.90 and the FBM 70 Index expanded 26.79 points to 14,126.31.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index grew 1.76 points to 169.03, the Energy Index put on 8.89 points to 824.15, the Financial Services Index went down 1.68 points to 16,190.69, and the Plantation Index dropped 36.97 points to 6,958.83.
Weekly turnover rose marginally to 17.10 billion units worth RM10.71 billion versus 15.57 billion units worth RM9.19 billion in the preceding week.
The Main Market volume improved slightly to 11.77 billion shares worth RM9.39 billion against 11.24 billion shares worth RM7.99 billion in the previous week.
Warrant turnover was higher at 2.01 billion units worth RM284.19 million from 1.69 billion units valued at RM251.44 million last week.
The ACE Market volume declined to 3.28 billion shares worth RM1.03 billion against 2.61 billion shares worth RM943.32 million previously. - Bernama
