KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to remain quiet as most traders will be on extended holidays for the Chinese New Year celebration, dealers said.
This, coupled with weak external sentiment such as Greece struggling to reach an agreement with the European Union over its debt issue was expected to pressure the market downwards.
Also affecting market sentiment was the price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for crude oil, which rose US$63 a barrel on short-covering but global inventory data showed an oversupply of up to two million barrels per day.
For the holiday-shortened week, trading was mixed with bargain hunting noted for selective
heavyweights on Monday while profit taking across-the-board emerged on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The local bourse was closed on Thursday and Friday for the Chinese Lunar Festival.
On a week-to-week basis, the FBM KLCI added 6.92 points to 1,807.87 from 1,800.95 last Friday.
The FBM Emas Index rose 24.16 points to 12,452.5, the FBMT100 Index gained 19.02 points to 12,126.62, the FBM Ace advanced 195.73 points to 6,608.78 but the FBM 70 fell 84.83 points to 13,418.45.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 80.22 points to 8,084.7, the Finance Index eased 11.68 points to 15,910.77 and the Industrial Index declined 33.84 points to 3,252.15.
Weekly turnover was slashed to 4.62 billion units, valued at RM4.5 billion, from 10.43 billion units, valued at RM11.44 billion, recorded last week.
Main market volume dwindled to 2.7 billion shares, worth RM4.11 billion, from 7.43 billion shares, worth RM10.77 billion, recorded previously.
Warrants’ turnover decreased to 235.08 million units, worth RM37.39 million, from 490.71 million units, worth RM109.76 million, registered last week.
The ACE market volume fell to 1.68 billion shares, valued at RM346.2 million, from last week’s 2.5 billion shares valued at RM556.11 million. — Bernama