KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices on Bursa Malaysia are expected to stabilise and rally moderately higher next week amid positive external sentiment and the recovering ringgit, which broke the 3.25 barrier against the US dollar for the first time this year.
More accommodative stance from the US Federal Reserve and prospects for a boost in Chinese stimulus should lift the market, Affin Investment Bank, vice president and head of Retail Research, Dr Nazri Khan said.
“We can see trading momentum shifting to lower liners and small-cap stocks on rotational plays such as Iris, Insas, Tebrau, Daya, Gadang and Symphony,” he told Bernama.
Technically, Nazri said the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was expected to trade at its target levels of 1,860 and 1,880, while support is seen at the 1,840 and 1,820 levels.
For the week just ended, the market tone was softer due to positive pullback after a strong showing over the last three weeks.
Stocks in focus included SapuraKencana Petroleum, which slipped three sen to RM4.35 after its second largest shareholder, Seadrill Ltd, sold 230 million shares in the company.
AirAsia Bhd (AirAsia) rose one sen to RM2.31 after signing a brand licence agreement with Thai AirAsia X Co Ltd to enable the use of AirAsia X’s brand name, trade mark and logo in Thailand.
On a week-to-week basis, the FBM KLCI fell 3.95 points to 1,852.66. The Finance Index dropped 169.97 points to 16,866.05 but the Industrial Index rose 32.76 points to 3,202.45 and the Plantation Index increased 115 points to 8,988.78.
The FBM Emas Index climbed 13.75 points to 12,856.53, the FBMT100 Index improved 7.8 points to 12,499.55, the FBM 70 rose 142.91 points to 14,109.08 but the FBM Ace lost 16.56 points to 6,766.22.
Weekly turnover rose to 10.53 billion shares worth RM11.03 billion from last Friday’s 10.44 billion shares valued at RM12.7 billion.
Main market volume increased to 8.37 billion shares valued at RM10.4 billion from 7.66 billion shares worth RM11.97 billion last week.
Warrant turnover decreased to 171.75 million units worth RM31.35 million from 250 million units valued at RM66.3 million previously.
The ACE market volume declined to 1.97 billion shares valued at RM582.1 million from 2.52 billion shares worth RM660.85 million recorded last week. — Bernama