KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 ― Bursa Malaysia is expected to be in consolidation mode next week, supported by strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd's equity research vice-president, Thong Pak Leng, believes that bargain hunting will emerge next week.

"The benchmark index surged to a new 52-week high on Monday, closing at 1,555.98.

"Although there was a pullback after the rally, we interpret this correction as a healthy consolidation necessary to sustain the upward trend,” he told Bernama.

While he anticipates a temporary pause for the bulls after Monday's robust rally, he noted that the index is positioned above all exponential moving averages (EMA).

"This suggests ongoing consolidation with a positive bias. As such, we anticipate the index to hover within the 1,538 to 1,570 range next week, with immediate support at 1,534, followed by 1,520.

"A significant subsequent resistance level is at 1,570, and a breakthrough above this level could signal further upward momentum,” he added.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI weakened by 4.21 points to 1,551.04 from last week’s 1,555.25.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased by 5.36 points to 11,697.82, the FBM Top 100 Index declined by 11.82 points to 11,326.92, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped by 3.11 points to 11,862.99.

Meanwhile, the FBM 70 Index advanced by 60.50 points to 16,392.57 and the FBM ACE Index rose by 118.53 points to 5,100.12,

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down by 0.40 of a point to 184.66 and the Healthcare Index fell by 5.57 points to 1,986.97.

The Financial Services Index climbed 32.38 points to 17,271.80, the Plantation Index was up by 10.60 points to 7,470.69, the Energy Index improved by 1.59 points to 969.09 and the Technology Index saw a slight increase of 0.44 of a point to 64.96.

Weekly turnover declined to 11.31 billion units worth RM7.39 billion compared with 19.34 billion units valued at RM13.19 billion in the preceding week.

The Main Market volume dropped to 5.96 billion shares valued at RM6.39 billion from 10.68 billion shares worth RM11.43 billion a week ago.

Warrant turnover slid to 3.14 billion units worth RM354.47 million versus 4.21 billion units valued at RM489.19 million last week.

The ACE Market volume shed to 2.17 billion shares valued at RM639.45 million against 4.41 billion shares worth RM1.25 billion previously.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries were closed on Wednesday and Thursday (April 10 and April 11) in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays. ― Bernama