Malaysian share prices are expected to hold steady in the week ahead but see volatile trading as the market settles down in the wake of fuel price increases, dealers said Friday.
Victor Wan, a senior analyst at Mercury Securities, said the market would continue to recover as the shock over the government's sharp fuel price hikes late February wore off.
In the country's highest-ever fuel hikes, the price of petrol and diesel was raised by 30 sen per litre to about 1.90 ringgit (51 US cents) and 1.58 ringgit (43 US cents) respectively.
However, "it is likely to be volatile as the market at this stage remains very vulnerable to negative news," Wan said. "At best the market is likely to be mired in a sideways consolidation until some fresh factors emerge," he added.
Wan said construction stocks would benefit from a forthcoming government development plan for more infrastructure projects.
For the week ending March 10, the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange composite index gained 5.03 points or 0.55 percent to 921.96.
Average daily volume was 601.42 million shares worth 895.55 million ringgit (240.74 million dollars) compared to 635.38 million shares valued at 889.71 million ringgit in the previous week.
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