KL shares likely to head north

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia are likely to trend higher next week,
following positive leads from the US market, coupled with impressive
recovery from the Greece financial markets, Affin Investment Bank, Vice
President, Head of Retail Research Dr Nazri Khan said.

Apart from
that, he said, news that major central banks were preparing coordinated
financial stimulus would also lend support to the bourses globally.

He
said global equities, including the local bourse, had been holding well
despite negative leads, suggested the Malaysian market's resilience.

"We
reckon the Group of 20 central banks' decision to provide standby
stimulus on any adverse Greece election results and the possibility of
further liquidity measures from the Federal Reserve are likely to boost
market confidence in the near term," he told Bernama.

Nazri said
the biggest bullish driver this week would definitely be the Greece
stock market which has rocketed sharply, reflecting investor confidence
on positive outcome from the Greece national elections.

On the
local front, he said, the coming initial public offering of Integrated
Healthcare Holdings and Astro Bhd should provide catalysts.

The
local bourse saw see-saw trading for the whole week with the FTSE Bursa
Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) moved between closing level of 1,570.94 and
1,579.23.

On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia
KLCI increased 8.61 points to 1,579.23 compared with last Friday's
closing of 1,570.62.

The Finance Index rose 56.32 points to
14,124.53 but the Industrial Index declined 35.22 points to 2,744.05
while the Plantation Index jumped 112.85 points to 8,413.51.

The
FBM Emas Index surged 77.26 points to 10,782.83 but the FBM ACE Index
slipped 8.66 points to 4,213.56, the FBM Mid 70 Index advanced 145.46
points to 11,785.71 and the FBMT 100 Index improved 72.09 points to
10,611.67.

The weekly volume rose to 3.768 billion shares worth
RM7.207 billion from last week's 3.372 billion shares valued at RM5.642
billion.

The main market turnover increased to 2.778 billion
units worth RM7.046 billion compared with 2.342 billion shares valued at
RM5.472 billion previously.

Volume on the ACE Market surged to
632.319 million shares valued at RM108.536 million from 492.735 million
shares worth RM105.895 million registered last week.

Warrants
decreased to 352.666 million valued at RM49.584 million against last
week's volume of 453.057 million units worth RM61.432 million. --
BERNAMA