By Zarul Effendi Razali
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 9 (NNN-Bernama) — Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange of Malaysia, is expected to continue to trade in cautious mode next week with investors concerned about the bearish economic outlook, said a trader.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said local market investor sentiment may turn cautious in the short term due to heightened volatility in the regional market.
“In view of the change in sentiment, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,445-1,465 range with support at 1,440 and immediate resistance at 1,465,” he told Bernama.
Another dealer said the regional sentiment remained affected by the US interest rates likely to stay higher for longer after the United States posted strong labour market figures.
He said investors were also concerned about news that China would broaden a ban on the use of iPhones, which has so far resulted in a two-day decline in Apple shares, wiping out nearly US$200 billion (RM935 billion) off its market cap.
For the week just ended, the FBM KLCI traded mostly lower in sync with regional bourses’ weaker performance amid negative market sentiment.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI slipped 8.48 points to end the week at 1,454.95 versus 1,463.43 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 89.72 points to 10,726.92, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 81.30 points to 10,401.98, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 110.33 points to 10,887.55, the FBM ACE Index lost 39.26 points to 5,188.83 and the FBM 70 Index dropped 198.25 points to 14,135.72.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index put on 0.20 of a point to 172.74, the Energy Index edged down 0.67 of a point to 855.47, the Financial Services Index went down 44.93 points to 16,426.68 and the Plantation Index dropped 73.55 points to 6,864.15.
Weekly turnover was almost unchanged at 18.03 billion units worth RM10.77 billion (US$1=RM4.68) versus 18.03 billion units worth RM13.53 billion in the preceding week.
The Main Market volume slipped to 13.14 billion shares worth RM9.61 billion against 19.95 billion shares worth RM12.47 billion in the previous week.
Warrant turnover was higher at 1.79 billion units worth RM254.14 million from 1.48 billion units worth RM222.87 million last week.
The ACE Market volume rose to 3.06 billion shares worth RM898.15 million against 2.57 billion shares worth RM821.64 million previously.
— NNN-BERNAMA
