Stock market analysts expect volatile trading on Bursa Malaysia next week because of an expected increase in interest rate by the US Federal Reserve in the midst of uncertainty about US policies after the election of Donald Trump as president.

Nazri Khan Adam Khan, head of retail research at Affin Hwang Investment Bank, said there was a high possibility of a higher interest rate because of Trump’s plans for massive spending on infrastructure are expected to lead to inflation.

He said most investors will adopt a wait-and-see approach to the stock market, watching out for Trump’s moves on policies towards emerging economies.

Nazri said the weakened ringgit and declining oil prices would cause the index to fall.

However, he said the better-than-expected third quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 4.3 percent from 4.0 recorded in the preceding quarter, driven by domestic consumption and net exports, was evidence that Malaysia’s economic fundamentals remained strong.

For the week just ended, the benchmark FBM KLCI slipped 14.05 points to 1,634.19 compared with 1,648.24 the previous Friday. The Finance Index rose 23.63 points to 14,283.13, the Industrial Index shed 35.56 points to 3,109.48 and the Plantation Index perked 17.41 points to 7,760.02.

Weekly turnover increased to 8.86 billion units, worth RM10.73 billion, versus 7.22 billion units, worth RM9.08 billion, registered last Friday.

Main market volume expanded to 5.82 billion units, valued at RM10.18 billion, against 4.73 billion units, worth RM8.69 billion, recorded last week.

Warrant turnover rose to 1.70 billion shares, valued at RM372.54 million, compared with 1.37 billion shares, valued at RM232.88 million, previously.

The ACE market widened to 1.32 billion shares, valued RM177.08 million, compared with 1.10 billion shares, worth RM152.33 million, last week.

- Bernama