KL shares to rise on external leads

Bursa Malaysia is expected to see share prices rise higher next week, given February's positive performance and external development, dealers said.

They said positive news including the earlier-than-expected third round of quantitative easing measures and the US budget deal deadlock brought cheer to investors.

"The latest signs of monetary easing by the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve's hint that there will be no-early-exit from easing have comforted the bulls," said Affin Investment Bank Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan.

This latest development also encouraged risk-taking sentiment and helped drive stocks towards its recent highs.

"With the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closing above the 1,630 points resistance level, we believe the market has a bullish tilt this week.

"The next support should come at the 1,620 and 1,600 levels while strong resistance should appear at 1,650 and 1,680 levels, respectively," he said.

Dr Nazri said banks, properties and REITs should be investors' favourites.

UEMLand, KLCC Properties, Sunway, HLFG, AFG, MBSB, Bursa, PavReit, AxisReit, SunReit and HektarReit are among stocks to watch for their strong near-term upside, he said.

For the week just-ended, finance and properties continued to be the strongest sectors.

The FBM KCLI showed a wild ride over the last 20 trading days with the index hovering over 30 points.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI rose 15.36 points to 1,637.44 compared with last Friday's 1,622.08.

The Finance Index added 237.78 points to 15,163.95, the Industrial Index rose 23.93 points to 2,807.44 but the Plantation Index was 37.78 points lower at 7,865.11.

The FBM Emas Index increased 121.76 points to 11,144.27, the FBMT100 advanced 120.14 points to 10,997.78, the FBM ACE Index gained 49.53 points to 3,990.41 and the FBM 70 Index surged 211.26 points to 12,185.59.

The weekly turnover slipped to 4.43 billion, worth RM7.76 billion, versus last week's 5.02 billion units valued at RM7 billion.

The Main Market volume declined to 3.461 billion shares, worth RM7.663 billion, last week's 3.689 billion shares worth RM6.849 billion.

The ACE market volume fell to 845 million shares, valued at RM1.615 billion, from 1.207 billion shares, worth RM11.097 million, recorded last week.

Warrants rose to 125 million units, worth RM8.111 million, versus 116.862 million units, valued at RM6.789 million, recorded previously. -- BERNAMA