KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia is expected to trade range-bound with an upside bias this week, despite the anticipation of profit-taking following the recent rally, a dealer said.

       Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the benchmark FBM KLCI is likely to trade within the 1,595 to 1,610 range this week, with immediate resistance at 1,620, and support at 1,590.

       He said the local market undertone is expected to remain steady on the back of positive investor sentiment, while taking cognisance of the renewed geopolitical tensions between Russian and Ukraine.

       “With continuous support from foreign funds, we reckon that the FBM KLCI will stay positive going forward with the uptrend mode remaining on track,” he told Bernama.

       Last week, Bursa Malaysia was mostly higher on improved sentiment and increased buying interest, despite the volatility in the regional markets and Wall Street.

       On a Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI gained 24.16 points to end last week at 1,603.05 from 1,578.89 previously.

       On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was up 131.09 points to 11,451.51, the FBMT100 Index added 90.11 points to 11,090.84, and the FBM Emas Syariah Index advanced 170.32 points to 12,210.71.

       Meanwhile, the FBM 70 dipped 36.55 points to 13,744.74, and the FBM ACE shed 50.19 points to 6,294.76.

       Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 104.03 points to 16,400.68, the Plantation Index added 905.81 points to 8,120.23, while the Energy Index eased 23.61 points to 765.18.

       The Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.69 of-a-point to 211.63, the Technology Index gave up 3.15 points to 80.73, and the Healthcare Index lost 18.91 points to 2,167.81.

       Weekly turnover improved to 17.91 billion units worth RM14.66bil from 15.28 billion units worth RM12.03bil in the previous week.

       The Main Market volume advanced to 11.83 billion shares valued at RM13.14bil versus 9.47 billion shares valued at RM10.72bil previously.

       Warrants volume expanded to 1.84 billion units worth RM227.65mil from 1.74 billion units worth RM200.92mil last week.

       The ACE Market volume increased to 4.23 billion shares worth RM1.29bil against 4.05 billion shares worth RM1.11bil in the previous week.