KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Bursa Malaysia’s bullish momentum is anticipated to drive the barometer index towards the next resistance level of 1,620 next week, and a breakthrough above this level could signal further upward movement.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng expects the index to hover within the 1,605-1,635 range for next week as the market may see some profit-taking in the early part of the week before recovering.

"The market is supported by foreign buying as global funds come back to the region. There may be some profit-taking, but in the longer term, the index remains on an upward trend,” he told Bernama.

In addition to supportive domestic economic readings, sentiment in the equity market was also supported by optimism about interest rate cuts in the United States (US) this year and a slew of economic measures announced by the Chinese authorities.

Nevertheless, he reckoned the market will continue to closely monitor the US jobless claims report, new home sales, as well as S&P Global Flash US and Eurozone manufacturing and services Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMI) for next week’s direction.

On Friday, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour announced that the Malaysian economy expanded at a higher rate of 4.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q 2024), which beat consensus estimates.

Previously, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) disclosed the advanced estimates forecast growth of 3.9 per cent for 1Q 2024, while the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey was 4.0 per cent.

Meanwhile, UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan commented that private investment continued to be a key contributor to the GDP in 1Q 2024, with noticeable movement already seen in 4Q 2023.

He said gradual improvements were also seen in manufacturing since last October despite Malaysia’s PMI remaining below 50.

During the week, Bursa Malaysia was mostly higher except for Wednesday as investors took a cautious stand as they awaited the US consumer price index (CPI) data.

The market later rebounded strongly and ended at 1,616.62, up 15.95 points from last week’s closing of 1,600.67.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index jumped 221.50 points to 12,308.18, the FBM 70 Index soared 680.69 points to 17,641.06, and the FBMT 100 Index surged 208.84 points to 11,906.01.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 237.66 points to 12,522.21 and the FBM ACE Index advanced 184.47 points to 5,351.22.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 122.84 points to 17,645.61, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 2.55 points to 194.84, the Energy Index gained 0.79 of-a-point to 985.95, while the Plantation Index dipped 37.65 points to 7,386.78,

For the week just ended, turnover advanced to 28.69 billion units worth RM19.76 billion against 24.57 billion units worth RM16.89 billion in the preceding week.

The Main Market volume shot up to 17.06 billion shares valued at RM17.24 billion from 14.76 billion shares valued at RM14.65 billion a week ago.

Warrants turnover expanded to 6.20 billion units worth RM908.91 million versus 4.79 billion units worth RM709.51 million last week.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 5.42 billion shares valued at RM1.61 billion compared to 4.99 billion shares valued at RM1.52 billion previously. — Bernama