KUALA LUMPUR: Trading on Bursa Malaysia is expected to be volatile next week due to the quarter-end window-dressing activities.
Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd research head Pong Teng Siew said the anticipated window-dressing activities would likely result in a wide trading range on Bursa Malaysia, whereby the resistance levels were at 1,683, 1,702 and 1,735, while support levels were located at 1,650, 1,637 and 1,604 points.
“Technically, we see the support and resistance levels as quite a distance away from the current 1,666.66 level of the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), which suggests that next week will be a more volatile week,“ he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Phillip Capital Management Malaysia senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan expects the local bourse to trend lower towards 1,650-point next week, driven by the recent global development involving caution on the US-China trade negotiation, the Brexit delay request, the current US Federal Reserve’s dovish stance, and the losses of local banking stocks.
“However, we believe any short-term fall will be cushioned by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s recent announcement on floating the matured entities back on the market,“ he said.
Shares on Bursa Malaysia were on a roller-coaster ride for the eventful week just ended, as market players were closely monitoring the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting and the annual Invest Malaysia forum, which both took place on March 19 and 20, as well as the release of February’s Consumer Price Index on Friday.
The market was also hampered by expectations that Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee might cut interest rates after the Fed signalled that there would be no interest rate hikes, sending shock waves across the banking stocks that led the market to dip by 20.55 points at Thursday’s close.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI settled 13.88 points lower at 1,666.66.
The FBM Emas Index fell 76.01 points to 11,683.17, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 65.53 points to 11,537.19 and the FBM Ace Index slid 19.66 points to 4,814.79.
The FBM 70 jumped 43.48 points to 14,252.55 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index went up 7.07 points to 11,755.15.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index tanked 362.34 points to 17,174.77, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 1.69 points to 169.01 and the Plantation Index eased 63.34 points to 7,192.85.
Weekly turnover reduced to 14.45 billion units worth RM9.78 billion from 19 billion units worth RM13.22 billion previously.
Main Market volume slipped to 10.06 billion shares valued at RM8.86 billion compared with 15.25 billion shares valued at RM12.36 billion.
Warrants turnover advanced to 2.38 billion units worth RM496.71 million versus 2.14 billion units worth RM449.56 million.
The ACE Market volume jumped to 2.0 billion shares valued at RM426.95 million against 1.45 billion shares worth RM356.27 million.
The gold futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is likely to trade in a consolidation with an upside bias, tracking the performance of the benchmark New York Commodity Exchange (COMEX) gold futures, dealers said.
A dealer said continuous signs of global uncertainties were set to encourage better demand for gold.
The Federal Reserve’s affirmation of its dovish stance this week by putting on hold the movement of the federal funds rate in 2019, which had pressured the US dollar, was a strong support for gold, he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, OCBC Bank (M) Bhd said in a research note that unresolved US-China trade tensions, unclear Brexit directions and a series of poor global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMIs) had added fuel to gold’s ascent.
“In the short term, we see little in the way to halt gold’s push, except a sudden positive development in US-China trade talks or a prolonged series of positive macroeconomic data.
“We upgrade our short-term outlook on gold to bullish, and the longer-term outlook to neutral,” it said.
For the week just ended, the local gold futures were mostly untraded despite the better performance of COMEX gold futures, on lack of local catalyst.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, spot month March 2019, April 2019, May 2019 and June 2019 settled eight ticks higher each to RM171.30, RM171.30, RM171.7 and RM172.0 a gramme, respectively.
Weekly turnover was lower at one lot worth RM17,500 from four lots worth RM68,720 in the previous week, while open interest fell to 23 contracts from 28 contracts. — Bernama
