KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Bursa Malaysia’s outlook is expected to remain positive next week due to attractive valuations and continuous strong foreign inflow, despite some profit-taking seen in the week just ended.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said profit-taking that emerged in the previous two days presented a good opportunity for bargain hunting.

"As such, we reckon the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) to stage a rebound next week with 1,600 level remaining as the psychological resistance, while the key index is expected to hover at the 1,590-1,610 range,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the outlook for Malaysian equities looked positive as the reopening of the economy is expected to gain momentum, thanks to the uplifting of the inter-state travel ban.

"We expect sectors such as logistics, food and beverages, construction, and aviation would be the immediate beneficiaries. Banking stocks too look promising as better economic prospects suggest that the downside risks to the Overnight Policy Rate is low, which means that Net Income Margin should be fairly stable,” he said.

Next week, Mohd Afzanizam said, the financial markets will be awaiting more details on Budget 2022.

"In that sense, the FBM KLCI could be in a tight range as the budget announcement will be on Friday, probably moving between 1,575 and 1,585-point range,” he added.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the benchmark index dropped 10.20 points to end the week at 1,588.08 from 1,598.28 previously.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed on Tuesday in conjunction with the Maulidur Rasul holiday.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 59.47 points to 11,709.40, the FBMT100 Index decreased 66.95 points to 11,339.79, the FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 87.91 points to 12,789.01.

The FBM 70 weakened 67.93 points to 15,376.63, and the FBM ACE slid 15.43 points to 7,170.88.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was down 12.59 points to 15,718.05, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 3.20 points lower at 209.74, and the Energy Index eased 23.85 points to 821.52.

The Plantation Index fell 18.10 points to 7,021.94, the Healthcare Index erased 11.12 points to 2,500.40, but the Technology Index inched up 1.31 points to 99.08.

During the holiday-shortened trading week, weekly turnover decreased to 15.83 billion units worth RM11.68 billion compared with 25.71 billion units valued at RM16.61 billion in the previous week.

The Main Market volume dwindled to 10.41 billion shares valued at RM10.23 billion against 17.04 billion shares worth RM14.50 billion in the prior week.

Warrants volume narrowed to 1.70 billion units worth RM243.49 million versus 1.72 billion units valued at RM213.25 million previously.

The ACE Market volume shrank to 3.69 billion shares worth RM1.20 billion from 6.92 billion shares worth RM1.90 billion in the previous week. — Bernama