Malaysian share prices are likely to maintain their volatility next week, driven by oil price movements and a possible rate cut in the US, dealers said.
"As we move into December there will be more economic data coming out of the US. The market may be quite buoyant if the data supports a rate cut," said Michael Lai, investment director of Fortress Capital Asset Management.
"Otherwise, the market may dip. So it is going to be very volatile." On the home front, casino operator Genting, state-owned shipping company MISC, and budget carrier AirAsia are expected to release their respective quarterly results next week.
But Lai said the upcoming earnings could have little impact on market movement. "The results that we have seen so far, I would think they were in line with market expectations. Although there were some positive surprises, if we look at the price reaction, there was not much movement on share prices as (the numbers) had been priced in already," he said.
For the week to November 16, the local bourse lost 15.61 points or 1.1 percent to close at 1,386.64. Average daily volume was 1.18 billion shares worth 1.76 billion ringgit (521 million dollars) compared to 1.23 billion shares valued at 1.73 billion ringgit a week earlier.