KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to trend higher with the FBM KLCI to hit the 1,680 level on better sentiment as the ringgit improves against the US dollar.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank vice-president/head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan, said sentiment was expected to improve prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration Friday as US President as his speech was expected to provide more details on his government’s policies, including economic policy.
He said recent decisions by the European Central Bank to maintain its interest rate, as well as optimism from the Japanese central bank and Bank Negara Malaysia on their respective country’s economic growth would also help to improve sentiment.
“The fundamentals are there, it’s just the sentiment that keeps the local stock market subdued this week,” he told Bernama.
Nevertheless, he said the market bellwether FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) had improved 30 points or 1.8 per cent this month, a good indication for the rest of the year.
He added that the support level for was seen at 1,660 and the resistance level at 1,680.
For the week just-ended, the local index trended mostly lower, dominated by cautious sentiment on the US policy after Trump assumes office.
On a week-to-week basis, the FBM KLCI fell 7.61 points to 1,664.89 from 1,672.5 last Friday.
The FBM Emas Index shed 42.76 points to 11,668.55, FBMT 100 Index decreased 43.15 points to 11,372.54, FBM Ace fell 101.37 points to 4,985.8 and the FBM 70 declined 16.74 points to 13,346.94.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 78.87 points weaker at 12,157.94.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index eased 38.78 points to 14,707.21, the Plantation Index erased 21.94 points to 7,915.12 and the Industrial Index declined 44.55 points to 3,125.53.
Weekly turnover fell to 9.1 billion units worth RM8.25 billion from 11.99 billion units worth RM9.69 billion last Friday.
Main market volume narrowed to 6.08 billion shares valued at RM7.74 billion from 7.99 billion shares valued at RM8.98 billion previously.
Warrant turnover shrank to 766.61 million units worth RM116.42 million from 866.07 million units worth RM142.42 million last Friday.
The ACE market decreased to 2.23 billion shares worth RM392.53 million from 3.11 billion shares worth RM562.63 million last week. — Bernama