Bursa Malaysia is expected to start the first week of the second half of the year on a firmer note as it rebounds from its recent downtrend on anticipation of improved demand as investors return after the long Hari Raya Aidilfitri holiday break.

Etiqa Insurance & Takaful's Head of Research, Investment Management Division, Chris Eng, said the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was expected to move above the 1,767 support level next week, failing which, sell-off from last week might continue.

"Buying interest will resume with as players return from their Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays," he told Bernama.

Bursa Malaysia and its derivatives markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday for Hari Raya.

On Friday-to-Friday basis, the FBM KLCI fell 15.78 points to 1,763.67, mostly influenced by Wall Street's performance as well as the movements of oil prices.

The FBM Emas Index gave up 49.49 points for 12,598.94, FBMT 100 Index erased 54.51 points to 12,234.89 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 8.87 points to 12,822.15.

The FBM 70 surged 139.05 points to 15,073.83 and the FBM Ace jumped 214.25 points to 6,493.7.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index dropped 77.65 points to 16,766.18, Industrial Index eased 1.99 points to 3,270.56 and the Plantation Index declined 17.04 points to 7,913.2.

The holiday-shortened trading week saw total turnover shrank to 4.29 billion units worth RM5.72 billion from 8.37 billion units worth RM9.82 billion last week.

The Main market volume fell sharply to 2.98 billion shares valued at RM5.46 billion from 5.34 billion shares valued at RM9.36 billion the previous week.

Warrants volume declined to 389.96 million units worth RM49.47 million from last week's 982.14 million units worth RM102.79 million.

The ACE Market turnover narrowed to 905.76 million shares valued at RM202.37 million from 1.96 billion shares valued at RM328.55 million previously.

-- BERNAMA