Bursa M'sia to trend lower next week

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade lower next week, dragged by external uncertainties, especially in the US.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said market sentiment is expected to be influenced by the divided opinion on US interest rate hike in Dec, as well as uncertainties surrounding US President Donald Trump tax reform.
"Support for next week is allocated at 1,700 level, while resistance is at 1,720 level," he told Bernama.
He, however, remained optimistic that the market would recover in the near term, driven by the better global and Malaysian economy, coupled with the improving oil prices.
"Our economic performance is the best in three years," he said.
He added that Brent, the global benchmark for crude oil, had been trading around US$63 per barrel this month, a level last seen in more than two years ago.
On a weekly basis, the benchmark FBM KLCI eased 4.43 points to 1,717.23 from 1,721.66 previously with the market mostly being influenced by external factors.
The FBM Emas Index declined 23.68 points to 12,393.24, the FBMT 100 Index shed 16.39 points to 12,046.89, the FBM Emas Syariah Index erased 18.6 points to 12,839.26, the FBM Ace dived 188.96 points to 6,402.62, while the FBM 70 was 33.36 points higher at 15,344.51.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index lost 112.65 points to 15,938.72 and the Industrial Index fell 13.88 points to 3,124.09, while the Plantation Index added 3.46 points to 7,911.99.
Total turnover narrowed to 10.41 billion units, valued at RM11.51 billion from 12.87 billion units valued at RM11.83 billion last Friday.
Main Market volume fell to 6.6 billion shares worth RM10.84 billion from 8.33 billion shares worth RM10.98 billion previously.
Warrants' turnover eased slightly to 1.17 billion units worth RM142.81 million versus last week's 1.20 billion units worth RM144.62 million.
The ACE Market weakened to 2.6 billion shares valued at RM526.05 million from 3.28 billion shares valued at RM686.84 million transacted previously.
Gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to move sideways in range-bound trading next week, tracking the performance of the US Commodity Exchange's (Comex) gold futures.
Phillip Futures Sdn Bhd Dealer Amberlyn How said the gold market is expected to remain supported by the weaker US dollar which was pressured by the Federal Open Market Committee minutes' skeptical outlook on inflation that dented expectations of the pace of rate hikes post-Dec.
Higher interest rates tend to boost the US dollar and push bond yields up, putting pressure on gold prices by increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion.
"The highly expected rate hike in Dec has already being priced by the gold market. Hence, the market is expected to be trading within the range, largely in sideways awaiting for more further market directions," she told Bernama.
For the week just ended, the gold market traded in range-bound and thin trading, mainly tracking the performance of the Comex gold market.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, Nov 2017 fell 28 ticks to RM171.2 a gramme, while Dec 2017, Jan 2018 and Feb 2018 slipped 15 ticks each to RM171.85, RM172.75 and RM173.25, respectively.
Weekly turnover reduced to 15 lots worth RM257,580 from last week's 46 lots valued at RM794,120, while open interest on Friday was flat at 99 contracts. — Bernama