Shares on Bursa Malaysia are expected to trade higher next week, supported by positive domestic and regional sentiments.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank vice-president/head of retail research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said market has been on an upward trend for the past two months with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) forming a solid psychology level at the 1,7000 level.
“We have similar upward momentum from our crude palm oil (CPO) and rubber that support the sentiment for next week. “The crude oil price also has stabilised and its recovery to US$43 per barrel, orchestrated well for Bursa Malaysia’s stocks,” he told Bernama.
Nazri said with China’s trade data remaining positive and solid, it indicated that the country is stabilising.
The upcoming Sarawak election and the Ecoworld International initial public offering (IPO) will be a domestic catalyst in supporting the local bourse’s sentiment, he added.
Nazri called on investors to accumulate the “Sarawak election-theme play” counters, namely Naim Holdings and Ta Ann Holdings.
For the week just ended, the market has been on consolidation mode as expected after the previous week’s rally.
The FBM KLCI confined in tight range as sentiment turned cautious ahead of a weekend meeting of oil producers.
Oil producers led by top exporters, Saudi Arabia and Russia are expected to meet in Qatar on Sunday to discuss freezing output to rein in ballooning global over-production.
On a weekly basis, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 9.59 points higher at 1,727.99.
The FBM Emas Index rose 44.53 points to 11,997.07, the FBMT100 Index added 46.74 points to 11,693.21 while the FBM Emas Syariah Index shed 2.27 points to 12,539.76.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index soared 162.16 points to 15,034.70, the Plantation Index trimmed 36.27 points to 7,785.25, while the Industrial Index gained 25.04 points to 3,290.97.
Weekly turnover leaped to 8.17 billion units valued at RM8.65 billion from 7.78 billion units valued at RM9.60 billion last week.
Main market volume gained to 5.61 billion shares valued at RM8.21 billion from 5.13 billion shares valued at RM9.16 billion previously.
Warrant turnover jumped to 997.74 million units valued at RM130.26 million from last week’s 928.94 million units valued at RM130.12 million. The ACE market rose 1.56 billion shares worth RM305.06 million from 1.52 billion shares worth RM307.35 million, transacted previously.
Gold futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives are likely to trade slightly lower next week with the ringgit expected to continue its upward momentum.
A dealer said the strengthening of the ringgit due to a rally in global oil prices had added pressure on gold.
“With the equities market set to remain strong and oil prices continuing to edge higher, gold is likely to face continuing pressure,” he said.
He said the Bursa Malaysia’s gold futures market would also track the performance of the New York Commodity Exchange’s (COMEX) gold market, the price setter for the precious metal.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, April 2016 loss 10 ticks to RM154.50 a gramme and July 2016 slipped 17 ticks to RM155 a gramme, while May 2016 increased three ticks to RM155.30 a gramme and June 2016 added seven ticks to RM155.65 a gramme.
Weekly turnover rose to 151 lots worth RM2.28 million from 99 lots valued at RM1.46 million last week.
Open interest on Friday widened to 566 contracts from 553 contracts previously.