Bursa Malaysia ends lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday, weighed down by selling in selected heavyweights and small-capped counters, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.34 points to close at 1,790.01 compared with Wednesday’s closing of 1,792.35.

The key index, which opened 0.6 of-a-point higher at 1,792.95, moved between 1,788.27 and 1,795.01 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 541 to 346, with 388 counters unchanged, 526 counters untraded and 31 others suspended.

Volume increased to 1.98 billion units valued at RM2.26 billion from Wednesday’s 1.95 billion units valued at RM2.49 billion.

A dealer told Bernama the buying momentum for the day was mixed as investors reacted to the recent Federal Reserve interest rate hike, as well as the decline in global crude oil prices, which impacted sentiment on equities.

For heavyweights, Public Bank trimmed two sen to RM20.38, Sime Darby declined one sen to RM9.61, Petronas Chemicals shed six sen to RM7.16 and Maxis went down seven sen to RM6.01.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank gained three sen to RM9.64, TNB rose four sen to RM14.42, while IHH Healthcare and Hong Leong Bank were flat at RM6.00 and RM15.40, respectively.

Actively traded stocks included Iskandar Waterfront City which gained seven sen to RM1.66, Felda Global Ventures put on six sen to RM1.80 and CIMB increased three sen to RM6.76.

The FBM Emas Index declined 26.26 points to 12,757.32, the FBMT100 Index slid 25.35 points to 12,397.57, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 23.25 points lower at 12,960.15.

The FBM 70 lost 65.57 points to 15,198.92 and the FBM Ace slipped 27.87 points to 6,342.27.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index eased 4.42 points to 16,874.92, the Plantation Index shed 2.52 points to 7,928.58, while the Industrial Index lost 2.55 points to 3,287.31.

Main Market turnover was unchanged at 1.38 billion units worth RM2.14 billion compared with 1.38 billion units worth RM2.38 billion recorded on Wednesday.

Volume on the ACE Market shrank to 297.72 million units valued at RM81.04 million from Wednesday’s 379.45 million units valued at RM80.26 million.

Warrants swelled to 283.9 million units worth RM30.18 million from 179.08 million units worth RM19.83 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 63.5 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (388.16 million), construction (88.34 million), trade and services (464.62 million), technology (68.43 million), infrastructure (11.83 million), SPAC (3.4 million), finance (74.06 million), hotels (415,000), properties (175.3 million), plantations (38.9 million), mining (53,100), REITs (9.06 million) and closed/fund (35,200).

For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.