Bursa Malaysia ends lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed easier yesterday as the market took a breather against the backdrop of a first quarter gross domestic product growth.

At close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.82 points lower at 1,854.44 from Wednesday’s close of 1,858.26.

The index opened 6.52 points higher at 1,864.78 and hovered between 1,854.44 and 1,867.09 throughout the day.

Malaysia’s economy grew 5.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year, slightly lower than 5.6 per cent recorded in the same period in 2017.

However, the central bank said the country continued to see expansion in private sector activity coupled with strong support from net exports.

It added that domestic financial institutions also demonstrated resilience with healthy asset quality, sound profitability and ample liquidity.

Among heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB lost four sen each to RM10.82 and RM6.81, respectively, Public Bank fell 16 sen to RM24.34, TNB eased two sen to RM15.90 and Petronas Chemicals added six sen to RM8.68.

Among actives, MyEG plunged 36.5 sen to 90.5 sen, Sapura Energy lost 4.5 sen to 76.5 sen, Nexgram slipped 1.5 sen to 3.5 sen, George Kent fell 43 sen to RM1.51 and Netx was flat at three sen.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 570 to 437, with 334 counters unchanged, 541 untraded and 20 others were suspended.

Volume increased to 3.32 billion units, valued at RM3.78 billion, from yesterday’s 3 billion units worth RM2.911 billion.

TheFBMEmasIndexdecreased 56.36 points to 12,894.01, the FBM Ace fell 105.65 points to 5,390.31 and the FBMT 100 Index went down 60.11 points to 12,687.83.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 96.25 points to 12,973.95 and the FBM 70 was 188.23 points lower at 15,067.26.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index lost 55.15 points to 18,319.57 and the Plantation Index fell 77.07 points to 7,935.74. The Industrial Index bagged 12.85 points to 3,301.28.

Main Market volume increased to 2.28 billion shares, worth RM3.63 billion, from yesterday’s 2.09 billion shares, valued at RM2.75 billion.

Warrants volume expanded to 602.59 million units, valued at RM87.87 million, from Wednesday’s562.61millionunits, worth at RM95.49 million.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 440.99 million shares, worth RM59.64 million, yesterday’s 344.17 million shares worth RM60.41 million.

Consumer products accounted for 67.68 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (232.28 million), construction (295.01 million), trade and services (1.24 billion), technology (81.13 million), infrastructure (28.4 million), SPAC (5.53 million), finance (76.64 million), hotels (3.52 million), properties (187.45 million), plantations (38.98 million), mining (43,300), REITs (15.95 million) and closed/fund (3,400).

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