KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): Bursa Malaysia is likely to trend lower this week amid rising interest rates, higher oil prices and the stronger US dollar.
Inter-pacific Asset Management Bhd chief economist and fund manager Datuk Nazri Khan said the US Treasury bond rout has bolstered the view that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) would call for more rate rises over the next 12 months.
On the domestic front, he said the overall market conditions are still cautious, with concerns over the slower global economic outlook dominating sentiments which could leave the FBM KLCI drifting further over the near term towards 1,400 points.
"Leads from both local and overseas sources are still in short supply and this will also keep the FBM KLCI unexciting for longer," he told Bernama.
Nazri also noted that the lower liners and broader market shares were also attempting to find some measure of stability after their recent pullback.
"We see this trend sustaining over the near term amid the calmer market conditions that could help these stocks find more near-term stability," he said.
For the week just ended, the FBM KLCI traded mostly lower amidst unabated volatility on Wall Street, cautious sentiment and a lack of fresh catalysts.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI dropped 7.29 points to end the week at 1,416.88 versus 1,424.17 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed by 78.43 points to 10,503.84, the FBMT 100 Index was 74.63 points lower at 10,169.64 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 80.43 points to 10,794.09.
The FBM 70 Index weakened by 201.10 points to 13,992.17 while the FBM ACE Index inched down 24.73 points to 5,150.51.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index shrank 43.15 points to 6,837.20, the Financial Services Index fell by 48.58 points to 15,869.59 and the Energy Index gave up by 43.80 points to 849.94. The Industrial Products Services Index edged down 0.67 of a point to 170.82.
Weekly turnover was better at 15.23 billion units worth RM10.59 billion versus 12.50 billion units worth RM8.37 billion in the preceding week.
The Main Market volume added to 9.65 billion shares worth RM9.25 billion against 7.80 billion shares worth RM7.16 billion in the previous week.
Warrant turnover strengthened to 1.57 billion units worth RM190.12 million from 1.46 billion units worth RM169.95 million last week.
The ACE Market volume was stronger at 3.94 billion shares worth RM1.14 million against 3.17 billion shares worth RM1.03 million previously. - Bernama
