Market expected to move sideways as global pressures remain

KUALA LUMPUR: The range-bound trading on the domestic market is expected to continue as recent economic developments in the US and China continued to exert negative pressure on trading sentiment.

In its market review, TA Securities Resesarch said the domestic market is awaiting more definite and stronger leads to lift stock out of its present consolidation phase.

“Given uncertainties over China’s struggling economy which will require more concerted stimulus by the government to reverse the slide, while on the contrary, the more hawkish message from the Federal Reserve chief that the stubbornly strong US economy may require further interest rate hikes or be held at higher levels for an extended period to draw down inflation to a more manageable level, the local market should continue to stay range bound till the present cloudy external economic landscape clears,” it said.

At the start of the week’s trading, the benchmark FBM KLC opened 0.74 points lower at 1,443.63, staying close to last Friday’s close as investors searched for more clues as to the direction of the global economy.

However, there remains some trading interest in the local market as Bursa Malaysia’s corporate results period reaches it close this Wednesday, with some heavyweight bank counters yet to release their quarterly earnings reports.

Among the country’s leading banks, Maybank slipped two sen to R9, CIMB dropped one sen to RM5.60, Hong leong Bank rose eight sne to RM19.84 and Public Bank gained one sen to RM4.09.

Tenaga Nasional meanwhile shed 23 sen to RM9.74 following a disappointing report card released last Friday.

In telcos, Maxis gained 11 sen to RM4.17, Axiata slid one sen to RM2.56 while CelcomDigi dropped four sen to RM4.36.

Top actives on the market included TWL dropping 0.5 sne to three sen, IW City rising two sen to 61.5 sen and UEM Sunrise adding 0.5 sne to 67.5 sen.