KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished marginally higher yesterday in line with the positive performance across the region, but investors maintained a risk-off mode ahead of the release of the US inflation print, says an analyst.
At 5pm, the FBM KLCI rose by 0.17%or 2.83 points compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,609.52.
The index, which opened 2.27 points higher at 1,611.79, fluctuated between 1,606.49 and 1,613.63 throughout the session.
Market breadth saw gainers leading losers 553 to 442, with 474 counters unchanged, 1,019 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover rose slightly to 3.46 billion units valued at RM2.497bil from Tuesday’s 3.41 billion units worth RM2.499bil.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said most key regional indices ended higher following overnight gains on Wall Street, as a soft producer inflation report fuelled expectations that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) might begin cutting rates in September.
This week, investors are also focused on China’s industrial production and retail sales data, as well as key earnings reports from major Chinese firms like Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, and CK Hutchinson.
On the domestic front, meanwhile, investors are cautiously optimistic and are closely monitoring the US inflation print and China’s economic data to gauge the local market’s direction, which is greatly influenced by global economic powerhouses.
“At this time, we expect the benchmark to remain in consolidation mode, pending a breakout above the 1,620 level, given the decline in daily volume to below five billion.
“As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to fluctuate within the 1,600 to 1,620 range throughout the week,” he told Bernama.
