Bargain hunting to boost market
BURSA Malaysia is expected to rebound this week, with the key index moving in firmer territory and backed by bargain hunting activities in blue chips among foreign investors, dealers said.
Malaysian Association of Technical Analysts president Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah told Bernama the benchmark FBM KLCI, is likely to hover between the 1,720 and 1,723 levels this week.
He said should the momentum remain on an upside, the next resistance level would be at 1,751, and the belief that strong demand for Tenaga would continue this week and drive the FBM KLCI further.
“Focus would be centred on the steel as well as second- and third-liner stocks, he said.
“Stocks to be watch out for next (this) week include technology-related counters, as sentiment would be clouded with the recent sell-off on Wall Street’s Nasdaq Composite, which declined to almost two per cent on Thursday,” he added.
On a Thursday to Friday comparison, the benchmark FBM KLCI gained 0.63 of-a-point to 1,717.86 on Thursday from 1,717.23 recorded the previous Friday, with the market being mostly influenced by external factors.
Bursa Malaysia was closed on Dec 1 in conjunction with Maulidur Rasul.
The FBM Emas Index rose 15.07 points to 12,408.31, the FBMT 100 Index increased 22.57 points to 12,069.46, the FBM Emas Shariah Index soared 80.89 points to 12,920.15 and the FBM 70 climbed 95.97 points to 15,440.48.
The FBM Ace, however, dropped 90.99 ./ 0 ./ points to 6,311.63.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index trimmed 12.39 points to 15,926.33, the Plantation Index eased 17.80 points to 7,894.19, while the Industrial Index improved 48.80 points to 3,172.89.
Total turnover declined to 7.87 billion units worth RM12.7bil from 10.41 billion units valued at RM11.51bil the previous Friday.
Main Market volume fell to 5.44 billion shares worth RM12.32bil from 6.6 billion shares valued at RM10.84bil.
Warrants turnover weakened to 938.2 million units worth RM102.83mil versus the previous week’s 1.17 billion units valued at RM142.81mil.
The Ace Market shrank to 1.47 billion shares worth RM275.19mil from 2.6 billion shares valued at RM526.05mil transacted previously. – Bernama KUALA LUMPUR
The three-month Kuala Lumpur Interbank Offered Rate (Klibor) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to remain quiet this week on lack of market catalysts.
For the week just ended, the market was untraded with open interest remaining at nil. 2186 5 +76 668 6
On a Thursday-to-Friday basis, both December 2017 and January 2018 stood at 96.50, February 2018 remained at 96.48 and March 2018 was pegged at 96.45.
The underlying three-month Klibor on the cash market remained at 3.43% last Thursday.
The market was closed last Friday for the Maulidur Rasul celebration. – Bernama