Kuala lumpur: Bursa Malaysia's benchmark index is anticipated to trade range-bound with a cautious bias between 1,700 and 1,730 in the upcoming week.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's vice-president of equity research, Thong Pak Leng, attributed this expectation to the lack of strong positive catalysts in the market.
Thong noted that volatility is likely to remain heightened as investors closely monitor developments in West Asia and fluctuations in oil prices. He suggested that while energy-related stocks might find support, overall market participation could remain limited as investors adopt a defensive strategy amidst ongoing geopolitical tensions and rising crude oil prices, which contribute to inflation and cost pressures.
In the week that concluded, Bursa Malaysia experienced mixed trading sessions, with market sentiment influenced by factors such as the West Asia conflict, US megacap earnings, the United Arab Emirates' decision to leave the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, and high oil prices. Notably, Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed on May 1 in observance of the Labour Day public holiday.
From Thursday to Friday, the FBM KLCI index saw a slight increase of 1.68 points, closing at 1,722.02 compared to 1,720.34 the previous week. The FBM Top 100 Index rose by 10.76 points to 12,560.06, the FBM Emas Index climbed 8.02 points to 12,723.74, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased by 131.75 points to 12,718.36. Conversely, the FBM ACE Index fell by 34.21 points to 4,618.11, while the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 13.54 points to 18,085.97.
In terms of sectoral performance, the Financial Services Index dropped 337.78 points to 19,885.03, while the Industrial Products and Services Index saw a modest increase of 3.95 points to 196.31. The Energy Index rose by 10.36 points to 840.67, and the Plantation Index improved by 94.05 points to 8,939.31.
Weekly trading turnover decreased to 14.15 billion units valued at RM13.03 billion, down from 16.39 billion units valued at RM15.16 billion the previous week. The Main Market volume also declined to 8.86 billion units valued at RM11.94 billion from 9.33 billion units valued at RM13.66 billion. Meanwhile, warrants turnover reduced to 4.02 billion units valued at RM539.16 million compared with 5.00 billion units valued at RM681.05 million last week. The ACE Market volume slid to 1.47 billion units valued at RM553.62 million from 2.06 billion units valued at RM812.78 million in the previous week.