Bursa Malaysia finishes week lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished the week lower yesterday on lack of marketmoving catalysts, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at an intra-day low of 1,767.08, down 2.99 points, or 0.16 per cent, from Thursday’s close of 1,770.07.

After opening 0.58-of-a-point lower at 1,769.49, the market benchmark moved between 1,767.08 and 1,772.30 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers by 495 to 335, with 363 counters unchanged, 665 untraded and 85 others suspended.

Volume, however, improved to 1.64 billion units worth RM2.20 billion from 1.58 billion units worth RM1.97 billion on Thursday.

Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research, Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan, said the local stock market, like the regional peers, lacked market-moving catalysts.

The investors were still digesting the US Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to maintain the interest rate at between one and .25 per cent, he said.

“However, the fall was only a temporary trend as the country’s fundamentals remained strong, backed by the strengthened ringgit and better economic growth forecast,” he said.

He said the International Monetary Fund upgraded Malaysia’s 2017 gross domestic product forecast to 4.8 per cent on Monday, up from 4.5 per cent as projected earlier.

“The revised growth projection has lifted the ringgit to become the strongest appreciated currencies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations,” he told Bernama.

Of the heavyweights, Genting Malaysia erased 12 sen to RM5.99, Axiata was six sen lower at RM4.63, Tenaga declined eight sen to RM14.16 and HapSeng fell 14 sen to RM9.01.

Sime Darby fell four sen RM9.50.

Yesterday, it announced new chairmen and senior leadership for each of the the group’s three pure plays, namely, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd itself.

Among the actives, MLab was 1.5 sen weaker at 15.5 sen, AHB dropped 65 sen to 30 sen and Talam Transform eased half-a-sen to five sen.

AT Systematization remained flat at four sen. CIMB rose five sen to RM6.64.

United Plantations topped the list of the gainers by bagging 60 sen to RM27.80, while the top loser,NHFatt, gave up 40 sen to RM3.94.

The FBM Emas Index decreased by 13.53 points to 12,591.63, FBM Emas Shariah Index was 15.72 points lower at 12,729.68, FBMT 100 Index fell 15.04 points to 12,232.61 and the FBM Ace dipped 54.94 points to 6,616.64.

The FBM 70, however, advanced 2.89 points to 14,973.47.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined by 4.40 points to 16,826.38 and Industrial Index was 9.86 points softer at 3,274.01. The Plantation Index gained 4.39 points to 7,839.79.