Bursa M'sia bucks regional trend to close easier

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to close easier yesterday with the key index snapping its six-day winning streak, weighed by selling in index-linked counters led by MISC, Petronas Chemicals and Astro.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI), which moved in negative territory throughout the day, settled at 1,868.47, down 5.15 points from yesterday’s close of 1,873.62.

The barometer index fluctuated between 1,866.02 and 1,871.13 yesterday.

However, bargain hunting in small and mid-capitalisation stocks helped to soften the downtrend in the stock market with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Small Cap Index advancing 163.14 points to 15,127.11.

There were 601 gainers and 325 losers, with 387 counters unchanged, 581 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 2.72 billion units worth RM2.19 billion from 3.27 billion units valued at RM2.34 billion previously.

A dealer said risk sentiment in the market returned as the geo political and trade war tensions subsided, coupled with the United States’ reconsideration to rejoin the 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership pact.

“These positive external developments were offset by profittaking following recent gains,” a dealer told Bernama.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index chalked up 0.97 per cent to 3,502.29, Japan’s Nikkei perked 0.55 per cent to 21,778.74, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.07 per cent to 30,808.38.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank fell six sen to RM23.98, Tenaga shed two sen to RM15.88, and Petronas Chemicals fell eight sen to RM8.40.

CIMB added one sen to RM7.21 while Maybank was flat at RM10.54.

The biggest loser was Kuala Lumpur Kepong, falling 42 sen to RM25.56, while KESM Industries topped the gainers list, rising 76 sen to RM18.16.

The most actively-traded stock was Sapura Energy which increased 5.5 sen to 74 sen with 258.99 million shares changing hands.

Of the other active stocks, Ucrest rose four sen to 35 sen, Hibiscus improved 5.5 sen to 92 sen, Bio Osmo added one sen to six sen while SKH Consortium was flat at 9.5 sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 6.09 points lower at 13,129.50 and the FBMT 100 Index fell 15.70 points to 12,921.62.

However, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 4.20 points to 13,352.70, FBM 70 improved 48.62 points to 15,819.58 and the FBM Ace surged 146.25 points to 5,646.13.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Index gave up 22.56 points to 3,220.98, the Plantation Index eased 11.14 points to 8,054.53, but the Finance Index added 3.52 points to 18,261.84.

Main Market volume declined to 1.61 billion units worth RM2.01 billion from 2.05 billion units valued at RM2.16 billion on Thursday.

Warrants volume slid to 595.02 million units worth RM74.17 million from 778.77 million units valued at RM103.22 million previously.

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