Malaysian shares are expected to trade higher next week as the uptrend in prices continues despite some consolidation, analysts said Friday. They said the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index should gain further ground during the week and test the 920 to 922-point level, its highest since the middle of February, despite near record high oil prices.
Notwithstanding a choppy environment at the start of next week after some profit-taking on Friday, the market was "not due for a consolidation as yet", said Victor Wan, a senior analyst at Mercury Securities.
"Depending on how the profit taking is absorbed, the uptrend could resume later in the week, barring any adverse developments in global crude oil prices," said Wan.
He added that if the 922 point level was breached, the composite index could "push ahead to its year-high of 940."
Wan said persistently high oil prices had become less of a concern and that investors had accepted the price of crude will remain high.
"So long as global economic growth has not been severely affected, it is likely that market participants will ignore the concern," he said.
However, he said if domestic fuel prices are raised further, then the adverse impact could filter down into the market sooner than expected.
For the week ending July 15, the composite index gained 13.23 points or 1.46 percent to 916.84.
Average daily volume was 551.64 million shares valued at 736.69 million ringgit (193.87 million dollars) compared to 346.22 million shares valued at 570.46 million ringgit in the previous week.