KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia are likely to remain lower in the absence of the major funds, a dealer said.
Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd head of research, Pong Teng Siew, said the major funds and unit trust funds had closed their books for the quarter, prompting an earlier-than-expected ending of window-dressing towards the end of the second quarter.
He said entering the third quarter, the market was expected to see profit-taking from investors who took advantage of the easier market and the absence of major funds.
“The market could pull back after the end of this quarter.
Furthermore, the market seems a bit tired after a few weeks of uptrend,” he told Bernama.
For the week just-ended, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) declined to 1,880.93 from 1,885.72 last week.
The benchmark index hit a high of 1,892.33 on Tuesday.
The Finance Index fell 101.91 points to 17,141.58, Industrial Index erased 41.35 points to 3,247.51 and the Plantation Index decreased 24.95 points to 9,239.49.
The FBM Emas Index eased 14.08 points to 13,040.53, FBMT100 Index contracted 17.86 points to 12,668.25 and the FBM Ace dipped 130.74 points to 6,695.77.
The FBM 70 firmed 35.68 points to 14,212.88.
Weekly turnover declined to 8.49 billion shares valued at RM9.99 billion from 8.58 billion shares valued at RM28.27 billion last week.
Main market volume decreased to 6.63 billion units worth RM9.64 billion from 6.72 billion units worth RM25.19 billion previously. Warrant turnover contracted to 146.93 million units valued at RM22.02 million from 155.2 million units valued at RM96.26 million last Friday.
The ACE market volume advanced to 1.53 billion shares worth RM301.31 million from 1.47 billion shares worth RM2.61 billion last week. — Bernama