KL shares to trade in narrow range

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia are likely to tread cautiously next week in a narrow range of between 1,560 and 1,590 points on continued investor concern over the U.S. and European debt situation.

Global economic developments especially Europe's debt crisis and Wall Street's bearishness weighed down on sentiment in a week marked by the proposed RM11.85 billion merger between Kencana Petroleum and SapuraCrest Petroleum.

Affin Investment Bank's Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan told Bernama that investors were eagerly awaiting the outcome of the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting Friday night which is expected to provide leads to the market.

He said the outcome will determine whether the ECB is robust enough to prevent any default by European banks.

Dr Nazri said the local bourse was expected to trade within a range of 1,560 and 1,590, supported by more news on the Economic Transformation Programme and the financial sector master plan which is yet to be announced.

The market, which opened the week easier, rebounded following positive news from Italy, but retreated later the week on concerns of negative sentiment over global debt problems.

For the week just ended, the market was bearish due to lack of interest and a continued sell-off in selected heavyweights after recent gains.

Kencana and SapuraCrest hogged the limelight as the biggest merger deal ever this year, with Kencana trading at noon on Tuesday 14 sen higher at RM2.94 and SapuraCrest adding five sen to RM4.54.

By the week's end, Kencana rose three sen to RM2.99 and SapuraCrest Petroleum was unchanged at RM4.51.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI dropped to 1,577.25 from 1,594.74 points and the Finance Index eased 181.35 points to 14,857.39.

The Plantation Index fell 136.19 points to 7,773.79 and the Industrial Index shed 27.06 points to 2,855.56.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 124.72 points to 10,809.61, the FBMT100 declined 117.03 points to 10,591.15 and the FBM Ace Index was lower by 69.07 points to 4,111.58.

Weekly volume dwindled to 3.798 billion shares valued at RM7.22 billion from 4.66 billion shares valued at RM8.63 billion last week.

Turnover on the Main Market fell to 2.89 billion shares worth RM7.034 billion from 3.52 billion shares worth RM8.38 billion previously.

Volume on the ACE market was lower at 447.57 million units valued at RM78.42 million against 477.78 million units valued at RM76.28 million previously.

Warrants dropped to 435.669 million units worth RM263.18 million from 640.58 million units worth RM168.95 million last Friday.--Bernama