KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the week lower in tandem with selling activities in emerging markets.
At 5pm today, the FBM-KLCI was at 1,607.3, falling 2.85 points or 0.18 per cent, compared to Thursday's closing of 1,610.17.
Decliners outpaced gainers 677 to 561, while 469 counters were unchanged, 702 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 5.64 billion units worth RM3.92 billion from Thursday's 5.91 billion units worth RM4.35 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice president Thong Pak Leng said key indices finished mixed while emerging markets ended mostly lower as the outlook for US interest rates is under consideration by investors after the Fed tempered its views on rate cuts, even as inflation figures were softer than anticipated.
As for the local bourse, Thong said the firm reckons that the benchmark is stuck in consolidation mode as investors remained cautious for the aforementioned reasons.
"The 1,630 level has proven to be a hurdle after multiple failed attempts to sustain it due to strong resistance. "We believe that if the FBM KLCI can remain above the 1,600 mark for a longer duration, the mid-term outlook for the benchmark index will be positive," he told the Business Times.
As for next week, Thong said Rakuten Trade expects trading to be muted in conjunction with the Hari Raya Haji holiday.
Hence, he said investors might reduce their trading size and keep funds on hand to invest once the market provides clearer or more favorable signals.
"Technical point of view, the FBM KLCI encountered profit-taking activities after a recent rally. "In view of the index dropping below the 20-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) we anticipate choppy market conditions ahead and expect the consolidation to persist, with the benchmark index fluctuating around the 20-day EMA. "If residual selling pressure persists, we may see the index fall and retest the 1,575 - 1,589 levels once again. We anticipate the FBM KLCI to trade within the range of 1,600-1,620 next week," he added.
Heavyweights Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd lost 18 sen to RM5.80, while MISC Bhd dipped 12 sen to RM8.35 following its rally yesterday, and Petronas Gas Bhd lost 34 sen to RM17.66.
Among the active counters, MyEG Services Bhd lost nine sen to RM1.05 and SNS Network Technology Bhd rose 2.5 sen to 87 sen while Hubline Bhd gained half-a-sen to 6.5 sen.