KUALA LUMPUR: The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) is likely to trade in a tight range between 1,510 and 1,530 as investors continue to remain cautious amid the Covid-19 pandemic, despite encouraging vaccination rates.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim sees no major catalysts in the immediate term for the market.
“A possibly higher growth for the Industrial Production Index (IPI) for May due on Monday will not likely act as an impetus for the market as the country had not entered the full scale lockdown at that point in time,” he told Bernama.
During the week just ended, the equity market was traded mostly lower as fears from high infection rates kept sentiments down, with the latest number of daily cases reaching a record high of 9,180 cases on July 9.
The market rebounded on Friday on bargain hunting activities with glove counters tagged to the FBM KLCI such as Hartalega and Top Glove advancing higher to the tune of 1.6 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively.
With this, the Bursa Malaysia Healthcare index was the biggest beneficiary among all sectors, ending the week 2.1 per cent higher.
On Thursday, Bank Negara Malaysia has maintained the Overnight Policy Rate at 1.75 per cent at its fourth Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
The FBM KLCI fell 12.77 points to end the week at 1,520.58 from 1,533.35 a week earlier.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 90.80 points lower at 11,070.11, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 91.5 points to 10,781.92 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 65.33 points to 12,110.78.
The FBM ACE shed 36.17 points to 7,175.04, and the FBM 70 erased 125.40 points to 14,324.93.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.59 of-a-point to 187.52, the Financial Services Index gave up 171.82 points to 14,955.63, while the Plantation Index lost 125.39 points to 6,290.43.
The Energy Index trimmed 17.21 points to 784.21, the Healthcare Index contracted 36.16 points to 2,2,805.39 and the Technology Index gained 2.08 points to 81.42.
Weekly turnover increased to 27.38 billion units worth RM16.38 billion from 26.86 billion units worth RM14.05 billion in the previous week.
Main Market volume rose to 18.30 billion shares worth RM13.48 billion from last week’s 17.73 billion shares worth RM11.74 billion.
Warrants volume went up to 1.15 billion units worth RM134.57 million from 857.61 million units worth RM84.50 million previously.
The Ace Market volume fell to 6.89 billion shares worth RM2.78 billion versus 7.36 billion shares worth RM2.22 billion last week. — Bernama