Malaysian shares likely to consolidate further

Malaysian share prices are expected to consolidate further in the week ahead following a down-cycle as investors remain concerned about the impact of high oil prices, analysts said.
"Since its year peak of 953 points nearly three weeks ago, the key index has consolidated more than three percent, wiping out the gains from the de-pegging exercise," said Victor Wan, a senior analyst at Mercury Securities.
This left it "trapped in a down-cycle with a bearish outlook for the near term," he said.
A local brokerage dealer predicted support for the index in the coming week at around 910-915 points, with resistance at 935 points.
At the close on Friday, the ringgit was at 3.7655 against the US dollar, and at 4.5844 against the euro.
For the week ending August 19, the composite index dropped 11.5 points or 1.2 percent to 925.54.
Average daily volume was 344.62 million shares valued at 533.316 million ringgit (142 million dollars) compared to 389.464 million shares valued at 592.404 million ringgit in the previous week.