Bursa Malaysia to continue upward momentum

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KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to continue its positive momentum, driven by a stronger ringgit, firmer oil price, strong global economic outlook, and better corporate earnings, a dealer said.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank vice-president/head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the global economic outlook is looking good so far this year, triggered by buying interest among local and foreign investors.

“It has been a good start (for FBM KLCI) this year, with positive outlook on the local and global economy. The local benchmark index has experienced the highest fund inflows in three years, signalling investors’ confident towards our market,”  he told Bernama.

He said that the FBM KLCI would likely move between 1,800 and 1,850 points.

“The strong oil prices have so far lent support to our market, of which about 30 per cent of companies in Bursa Malaysia are directly and indirectly involved in the oil and gas industry,” he said.

He said that the benchmark index would also be affected by US President Donald Trump’s tax reform plan.

As the week ended, the market was traded mostly higher, benefitting from gains in the Wall Street, as well as positive economic data from China.

However, the European Union’s (EU) approval of draft measures to back a ban on the use of palm oil in biofuels from 2021 on Thursday has hurt the plantation and palm oil related counters as the commodity is a major export from Southeast Asia to the EU.

On a Friday-to-Friday comparison, the FBM KLCI performed better, gaining 6.16 points to end the week at 1,828.83.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index slipped 26.78 points to 13,195.82, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 2.06 points to 12,860.60, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 79.87 points to 13,627.46, the FBM 70 shed 154.79 points to 16,472.37, and the FBM Ace fell 192.66 points to 6,713.12.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index surged 26.07 points to 17,236.98, the Plantation Index fell 99.45 points to 8,037.87 and the Industrial Index erased 31.52 points to 3,368.02.

Total turnover slipped to 25.35 billion units valued at RM15.97 billion from 27.14 billion units valued at RM19.11 billion in the previous week.

Main Market volume decreased to 17.14 billion shares worth RM14.73 billion from the previous Friday’s 17.88 billion shares worth RM17.59 billion.

Warrants turnover declined to 2.64 billion units worth RM448 million from 3.46 billion units worth at RM479.51 million previously.

The ACE Market narrowed to 5.51 billion shares valued at RM778.77 million against the previous week’s 5.74 billion shares valued at RM1.02 billion. — Bernama