Malaysia Stock Market Expected To See Volatile Trading Next Week

By Nurunnasihah Ahmad Rashid KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- The Malaysia stock market (Bursa Malaysia) is expected to see volatile trading next week due to weak external developments on the back of an imminent interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve against a backdrop of uncertainty especially in US policies under newly-elected President Donald Trump. Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said there was a high possibility of an interest rate hike due to the inflationary pressures anticipated with the upcoming massive spending by Donald Trump to build walls and infrastructure. He said most investors will adopt a wait-and-see approach to the stock market, watching out for Trump's unfriendly next move on policies towards emerging economies. "Against this backdrop, the benchmark index is expected to be trade between 1,600 and 1,640 points next week," he told Bernama, adding that the weak ringgit and declining oil prices were expected to pressure the index south. However, he said the better-than-expected third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 4.3 per cent from 4.0 recorded in the preceding quarter, driven by domestic consumption and net exports, was evident that Malaysia's economic fundamentals remained strong. For the week just-ended, the benchmark FBM KLCI slipped 14.05 points to 1,634.19 compared with 1,648.24 last Friday. On a week-to-week basis, the FBM Emas Index declined 03.47 points to 11,504.25, the FBMT 100 Index fell 100.84 points to 11,214.96 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 128.05 points lower at 12,103.91. The FBM Ace decreased 22.81 points to 4,964.59 and the FBM 70 lost 136.03 points to 13,350.15. On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index rose 23.63 points to 14,283.13, the Industrial Index shed 35.56 points to 3,109.48 and the Plantation Index perked 17.41 points to 7,760.02. Weekly turnover increased to 8.86 billion units, worth RM10.73 billion, versus 7.22 billion units, worth RM9.08 billion, registered last Friday. Main market volume expanded to 5.82 billion units, valued at RM10.18 billion, against 4.73 billion units, worth RM8.69 billion, recorded last week. Warrant turnover rose to 1.70 billion shares, valued at RM372.54 million, compared with 1.37 billion shares, valued at RM232.88 million, previously. The ACE market widened to 1.32 billion shares, valued RM177.08 million, compared with 1.10 billion shares, worth RM152.33 million, last week. -- BERNAMA