Rakuten Trade's Thong anticipates the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,730 to 1,760 range for the week.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended modestly higher yesterday on bargain hunting, extending its recovery from last week’s pullback, although the upside momentum faded after an early peak, says an economist.
At 5 pm, the FBM KLCI rose 7.38 points, or 0.42%, to 1,748.26 from last Friday’s close of 1,740.88.
The market bellwether opened 15.21 points higher at 1,756.09, and subsequently hit an intraday high of 1,757.51 in early trade before slipping to its day’s low of 1,742.68 during the mid-morning session.
In the broader market, losers led gainers 662 to 464, some 556 counters were unchanged, 953 counters were untraded and seven were suspended.
Turnover expanded to 3.25 billion shares valued at RM3.34bil from last Friday’s 2.73 billion shares valued at RM3.43bil.
IPPFA Sdn Bhd director of investment strategy and country economist Mohd Sedek Jantan said the index traded sideways through the afternoon, reflecting orderly profit-taking and tactical positioning rather than a deterioration in underlying market structure, with consolidation persisting below the 1,760 near-term resistance.
“Overall, the index continues to hold comfortably above its key moving averages, supporting the view that any near-term weakness remains corrective in nature.
“Unless momentum indicators deteriorate materially, the broader technical bias remains constructive as markets consolidate ahead of the upcoming Purchasing Managers’ Index releases and key US macro data later in the week,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI extended its upward momentum in line with firmer regional sentiment.
“Asian markets ended mostly higher, led by strong gains in South Korea and Japan amid a rally in artificial intelligence-related shares, while investors tracked Wall Street’s overnight advance driven by technology and chipmaking stocks.
“Attention now turns to major corporate earnings this week, including Amazon and Alphabet,” he said.
Back home, Thong said the local market continues to show a positive tone, supported by steady buying interest and improving confidence among investors.
“As long as the index holds above its key support zone at 1,730, this should provide a solid foundation for the next leg of the rally to unfold. We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,730 to 1,760 range for the week,” he added.
Among heavyweights, Maybank added 14 sen to RM11.94, Public Bank put on eight sen to RM4.95, Tenaga Nasional gained 18 sen to RM14.12, CIMB eased two sen to RM8.56, and IHH Healthcare was eight sen lower at RM8.88. — Bernama
