KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — Bursa Malaysia is expected to continue its positive momentum next week although there might be some profit-taking activities, said a trader.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said he was cautiously optimistic given the improvement in the local market sentiment and the return of foreign funds.

“Hence, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend within the range of 1,455-1,475 for the week with immediate resistance at 1,490 and support at 1,440,” he told Bernama.

According to MIDF Research, rate decisions by central banks — namely the Reserve Bank of Australia on Sept 5, Bank Negara Malaysia on Sept 7 and the European Central Bank on Sept 14 — would be among the things focused on by traders next week.

For the week just ended, the FBM KLCI traded mostly higher in sync with regional bourses’ upbeat performance as market sentiment turned positive and fuelled investors’ risk appetite.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI gained 19.02 points to end the week at 1,463.43 versus 1,444.41 a week earlier.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index added 154.37 points to 10,816.64, the FBMT 100 Index increased 140.01 points to 10,483.28, the FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 108.91 points to 10,997.88, the FBM ACE Index lost 46.81 points to 5,228.09 and the FBM 70 Index expanded 207.66 points to 14,333.97.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index put on 3.51 points to 172.54, the Energy Index edged up 31.99 points to 856.14, the Financial Services Index went up 280.92 points to 16,471.61 and the Plantation Index dropped 21.13 points to 6,937.70.

Weekly turnover rose to 18.03 billion units worth RM13.53 billion versus 17.10 billion units worth RM10.71 billion in the preceding week.

The Main Market volume improved to 19.95 billion shares worth RM12.47 billion against 11.77 billion shares worth RM9.39 billion in the previous week.

Warrant turnover was higher at 1.48 billion units worth RM222.87 million from 2.01 billion units worth RM284.19 million last week.

The ACE Market volume declined to 2.57 billion shares worth RM821.64 million against 3.28 billion shares worth RM1.03 billion previously. — Bernama