KUALA LUMPUR (May 14): Bursa Malaysia is expected to see cautious trading with an upward bias next week, buoyed by a promising domestic economic outlook, despite volatility in regional markets, a dealer said.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng reckons that the FBM KLCI is likely to move between 1,540 and 1,560 going forward with the immediate resistance at 1,575 and support at 1,530.

He said the local market will see continued bargain-hunting activities, given the cheap valuations of local stocks and the improving macroeconomic situation of the country.

"We are cautiously optimistic given the improvement in local market sentiment. Nevertheless, investors will stay alert to increasing market volatility and external uncertainties," he told Bernama.

On Wednesday, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) announced to increase the overnight policy rate by 25 basis points to 2%.

On Friday (May 13), BNM reported that Malaysia’s economy rebounded in the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22), expanding 5% versus a contraction of 0.5% in 1Q21.

The central bank said the sustained reopening of the global economy and the improvement in labour market conditions continued to support the recovery of economic activity and it expects the domestic economy to improve further this year, with growth projected to be between 5.3% and 6.3% in 2022.

For the week just ended, the KLCI was traded mixed amid a softer performance of regional markets and a decline on Wall Street as investors remained wary of faster interest rate hikes.

On a weekly basis, the KLCI fell 19.93 points to end the week at 1,544.41 from 1,564.34 in the previous week.

On the index board, the FBMT100 Index fell 168.25 points to 10,687.26, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 225.34 points to 11,468.41, the FBM Emas Index slid 194.76 points to 11,010.80, the FBM ACE shed 154.63 points to 5,342.63 and the FBM 70 lost 329.46 points to 13,056.61.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index lost 353.82 points to 8,179.28, the Industrial Products and Services Index weakened by 7.31 points to 196.79, and the Energy Index declined 8.93 points to 787.24.

The Financial Services Index trimmed 141.46 points to 16,534.37, the Healthcare Index shed 30.16 points to 1,980.94 and the Technology Index inched down 2.19 points to 65.69.

Weekly turnover widened to 15.15 billion units valued at RM11.21 billion against 5.79 billion units valued at RM4.81 billion last week.

Main Market volume expanded to 10.68 billion shares worth RM10.33 billion versus 3.53 billion shares worth RM4.41 billion in the previous week.

Warrant volume improved to 1.46 billion units valued at RM256.93 million against 726.98 million units valued at RM130.71 million previously.

ACE Market volume was higher at 2.99 billion shares worth RM621.6 million from 1.52 billion shares worth RM272.69 million the week before.

Bursa and its subsidiaries will be closed on Monday, May 16 for a replacement holiday in conjunction with the Wesak Day celebration and will resume its operations on Tuesday, May 17.