KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is anticipated to stage a rebound next week, buoyed by continuous support from foreign funds and improving economic conditions.
Rakuten Trade equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said, from a technical perspective, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) failed to surpass the critical resistance level of 1,465 despite a few attempts, followed by four consecutive days of decline and broke below the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) on Friday.
"However, as the index has managed to hold above its 50-day EMA, the odds of an upside move are increasing. Hence, we believe the benchmark index is still in a consolidation mode with a slight positive bias.
"As such, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,450-1,470 range for next week, with immediate support at 1,450 followed by 1,440," he told Bernama.
For the week just ended, Bursa Malaysia traded mostly lower as investors awaited a slew of economic data from the United States (US) to firm up their gauges on the rate and the US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation report.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI fell 7.87 points to end the week at 1,454.38 versus 1,462.25 a week ago.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 46.82 points to 11,016.57, the FBM 70 Index surged 142.72 points to 14,616.84, the FBM ACE Index went up 35.53 points to 5,216.20, while the FBM Emas Index fell 15.96 points to 10,819.92, and the FBMT 100 Index lost 17.34 points to 10,484.93.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 2.31 points better at 818.6, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.29 of-a-point to 172.76, while the Financial Services Index slid 189.87 points to 16,247.09, and the Plantation Index dipped 10.12 points to 7,036.45.
Bursa Malaysia ended the week with a lower turnover of 18.39 billion units worth RM12.04 billion versus 18.88 billion units worth RM13.44 billion in the preceding week.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 10.75 billion shares valued at RM10.40 billion against 11.68 billion shares valued at RM11.87 billion in the previous week.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 3.04 billion units valued at RM356.87 million from 4.02 billion units valued at RM527.82 million last week.
The ACE Market volume, however, expanded to 4.44 billion shares worth RM1.28 billion compared to 3.16 billion shares worth RM1.03 billion previously. - Bernama