A series of positive corporate results indicate Malaysia's stock market could experience healthy trading with the key index moving higher this week, an analyst said. "The results will prompt investors to realign their portfolios and this will also help to keep trading activities at a healthy level," said Victor Wan, senior analyst at Mercury Securities. "Therefore there is still some upside bias left on the key index, which may even tip it back above the 910 level.

"Although market activity and sentiment should improve, the upside appears limited and the key index is likely to stay within the range of 900 to 920 points," he said.

The recent spate of corporate results had been encouraging, with many companies also declaring higher dividends "which is heartening, as payouts have been generally dismal in the past," Wan said.

For the week ended February 25, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 4.24 points or 0.46 percent to 903.51.

Average daily volume was 527.44 million shares worth 971.18 million ringgit (255.57 million dollars) compared with 478.79 million shares worth 1.01 billion ringgit during the previous week.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005