KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) is expected to continue its uptrend next week, driven by the progress of Covid-19 vaccinations in the country and the expectation of positive inflation data, among others.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd economist Adam Mohamed Rahim said the FBM KLCI is expected to trade within a range of 1,585 to 1,600 points next week.

"The number of daily vaccination doses administered remained above 200,000 from Tuesday to Thursday, giving hope that 80 per cent of Malaysia’s population will be vaccinated by the end of 2021.

"With regard to economic data, Malaysia will be releasing the May data on inflation which may continue to rise on a year-on-year basis due to a low base effect from last year,” he told Bernama.

Other events on investors’ radar would be policy meetings of the central banks of Thailand and the Philippines which are likely to continue with their accommodative stance given the uneven path of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

While things may appear positive in terms of Malaysia’s vaccination progress, Adam said the ringgit is expected to face external pressure.

"Following the recent US Federal Reserve meeting which gave rise to the possibility of an earlier-than-expected rate hike amid improving economic landscape in the US, the US dollar is expected to strengthen further. With this in mind, the ringgit will likely trade between RM4.13 and RM4.15 per US dollar next week,” he said.

For this week, he said the FBM KLCI rose 1.2 per cent yesterday to close at 1589.05 points, bucking the trend of peers such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines which closed lower, as investors shrugged off the increase in number of Covid-19 cases to 6,440 on June 18 from 5,738 and focused more on the progress of vaccination efforts in the country.

On further scrutiny, gainers on Bursa Malaysia were led by Sime Darby Plantation which gained by 7.1 per cent, he added.

During the week, the FBM KLCI rose 13.89 points to 1,589.05 at yesterday's close from 1,575.16 a week earlier.

Bursa Malaysia ended the week on a higher note for the third straight day, supported by late buying demand in selected heavyweights.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM Emas Index was 81.75 points higher at 11,584.94, the FBMT 100 Index gained 89.17 points to 11,276.33, the FBM Emas Shariah Index jumped 141.89 points to 12,778.22, the FBM ACE added 64.63 points to 7,707.70, and the FBM 70 rose 82.17 points to 16,016.60.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index soared 60.92 points to 15,313.70, the Plantation Index contracted 17.94 points to 6,681.55 and the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.32 of-a-point to 192.01.

The Energy Index advanced 11.03 points to 843.61, the Healthcare Index secured 42.86 points to 3,068.87 and the Technology Index improved 2.82 points to 82.20.

Weekly turnover widened to 28.17 billion units worth RM18.24 billion from 22.95 billion units worth RM13.02 billion recorded in the previous week.

Main Market volume rose to 18.83 billion shares valued at RM15.58 billion from 15.23 billion shares valued at RM11.04 billion.

Warrants volume added to 1.41 billion units worth RM142.50 million from 1.06 billion units worth RM139.07 million.

The Ace Market volume went up to 7.86 billion shares valued at RM2.51 billion from 6.65 billion shares valued at RM1.83 billion. — Bernama