KUALA LUMPUR: The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI), which ended the week on a sour note, is expected to stabilise and quietly grind higher, said Affin Hwang Investment Bank.
Its vice president/head of retail research, Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said going forward, Bursa Malaysia is expected to see bargain-hunting interest ahead of the month-end closing and ahead of the much-awaited Budget 2015 slated for Oct 10.
“The benchmark index is expected to take advantage of the budget play and bargains in the Malaysian blue-chips after five straight weeks of correction,” he told Bernama.
Nazri noted that the index’s current bearish performance was short-lived, reflecting a healthy correction on a larger market uptrend as it made a strong rally this year, gaining 127 points from February to July when it hit 1896.23 points on July 8.
He said despite the weaker sentiment, the FBM KLCI was holding up well above the 1,840 level due to Bursa Malaysia’s defensive appeal, resilient domestic liquidity and lower vulnerability to foreign investor withdrawals.
For the week just-ended, the FBM KLCI fell by 8.99 points to 1,840.5 from 1,849.49 last Friday.
The Finance Index slipped 247.64 points to 17,144.77, the Industrial Index decreased 1.41 points to 3,207.99, but the Plantation Index increased 18.98 points to 8,416.7.
The FBM Emas Index was 47.26 points lower at 12,897.05, the FBMT100 Index fell 45.5 points to 12,477.75, the FBM Emas Syariah Index was 20.22 points easier at 13,178.59, but the FBM 70 rose 10.12 points to 14,317.01 and the FBM Ace gained 37.39 points to end the week at 7,293.
The weekly turnover increased to 12.53 billion shares valued at RM10.11 billion from 8.84 billion shares valued at RM8.16 billion last week.
Main market volume rose to 8.99 billion units worth RM9.35 billion from 5.94 billion units worth RM7.59 billion.
Warrants turnover expanded to 168.75 million units valued at RM25.95 million from 106.56 million units valued at RM14.70 million last week.
The ACE market volume appreciated to 3.24 billion worth RM719.65 million from 2.42 billion shares worth RM508.31 million last week. — Bernama