By Siti Noor Afera Abu
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives is expected to continue sideways consolidation with an upside bias, said an analyst.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said investors remain cautious despite some gains in the benchmark index, given the influence of external factors.
“We believe the weakness in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) stocks will persist into next week, potentially posing challenges for the local market until the issue surrounding US chipmakers is resolved.
“Given the attractive valuations of local equities, we anticipate the benchmark index to trade sideways with an upside bias within the range of 1,600-1,620 for the coming week,” he told Bernama.
For the trading week just ended, January 2025 decreased 31.5 points to 1,599.0, February 2025 edged down 35 points to 1,600.0, while March 2025 and June 2025 contracts fell by 35.5 points to 1,582.5 and 1,588.0, respectively.
Turnover fell to 30,969 lots from 41,378 lots in the previous week, while open interest was slightly higher at 42,928 contracts from 42,706 contracts previously.
On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the key index fell 27.05 points to 1,602.41 compared to 1,629.46 in the previous week.
-- BERNAMA