KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade range-bound while taking a breather following recent gains, in line with global equities, a dealer said.
The FBM KLCI broke the key 1,600 mark on Tuesday, sustaining its rally and reaching a two-year high.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI long-term outlook remains positive, driven by strong corporate earnings, cheap valuations, and substantial support from foreign investors
"While we anticipate a temporary pause in bullish activity after such a strong surge, the index remains positioned above all exponential moving averages (EMAs).
"The upward trajectories of the 20-day and 50-day EMAs indicate that the KLCI is consolidating with a positive bias," he told Bernama, adding that the index is anticipated to fluctuate within the 1,600 and 1,620 range next week.
In the meantime, Bursa Malaysia breached RM2 trillion in market capitalisation on May 7 for the first time and continued to ascend before edging lower on May 9.
"Foreign investors continued to accumulate Malaysian equities this week with daily inflow from May 6 to 8, before recording a minor outflow on May 9.
"On the regional front, Malaysia is the only country that attracted sustained foreign net buy from May 6 to 8," the exchange said in a note yesterday.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI increased 11.08 points to 1,600.67 from last week's 1,589.59.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 116.57 points to 12,086.68, the FBM 70 Index went up 223.35 points to 16,960.37, and the FBMT 100 Index perked up by 100.05 points to 11,697.17.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 91.25 points to 12,284.55, and the FBM ACE Index advanced 32.20 points to 5,166.75.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index surged 232.36 points to 17,522.77, the Plantation Index went up 4.56 points to 7,424.43, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 1.43 points to 192.27, and the Energy Index gained 18.31 points to 985.16.
For the week just ended, turnover advanced to 24.57 billion units worth RM16.89 billion against 16.10 billion units worth RM13.43 billion in the preceding week.
The Main Market volume improved to 14.76 billion shares valued at RM14.65 billion from 9.79 billion shares valued at RM12.02 billion a week ago.
Warrants turnover expanded to 4.79 billion units worth RM709.51 million versus 4.17 billion units worth RM606.55 million last week.
The ACE Market volume expanded to 4.99 billion shares valued at RM1.52 billion compared to 2.14 billion shares valued at RM809.18 million previously.
