Bursa Malaysia ends lower on selling pressure

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday on selling pressure across-the-board as market sentiment remained volatile due to external factors, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was lower at 1,783.40, down 22.41 points, from Friday’s close of 1,805.75.

The index opened 2.10 points lower at 1,803.65 and moved between 1,782.70 and 1,804.41 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 764 to 213 while 335 were unchanged, 583 untraded and 32 others were suspended.

Volume declined to 2.06 billion units, worth RM2.21 billion, from 2.19 billion units, worth RM2.04 billion, transacted on Friday.

M&A Securities Sdn Bhd chief dealing officer R Sundararajah said global equity market performance were dragged by the crisis affecting Turkey’s currency, the lira, after it crumbled further following US President Donald Trump’s approval of higher tariffs and threat of sanctions last Friday.

However, he said Malaysia’s stock market maintained its resilience, given its strong fundamentals and would withstand the external pressure which is expected to continue for the short-term.

“We are gaining confidence from foreign investors following steps taken by the government in various sectors to attract foreign investments,” he told Bernama.

Sundararajah also said most buyers were waiting to see how the Dow Jones Industrial Average would react later tonight (at its opening) to the crisis in Turkey as stocks in Europe were reeling from the uncertainty.

“Most banking stocks in Europe fell between 0.9 per cent and 2.6 per cent as European banks conduct dealings with Turkey, and this has directly caused the London Stock Exchange to experience a downturn,” he said.

Of heavyweights, Maybank eased one sen to RM9.88, Public Bank fell two sen to RM24.38, Tenaga declined 22 sen to RM15.56, Petronas Chemicals dropped 12 sen to RM9.09 and CIMB lost four sen to RM5.89.

Among actives, IHH, which was among the top losers, slipped 30 sen to RM5.45 but Edaran gained 26 sen to 71.5 sen and Borneo Oil was flat at six sen.

Of the top losers, Malaysia Airports was down 53 sen at RM9.33, Far East shed 50 sen to RM13.50 and KESM contracted 40 sen to RM17.50.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 155.65 points to 12,614.84, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 191.27 points lower at 12,757.61 and the FBM Ace Index slid 84.92 points to 5,464.48.

The FBMT 100 Index slipped 154.49 points to 12,392.35 and the FBM 70 fell 187.19 points to 15401.59.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index slipped 78.06 points to 17,498.12, the Plantation Index was 102.46 points weaker at 7,610.37 and the Industrial Index slid 26.68 points to 3,242.67.

Main Market volume fell to 1.25 billion shares, valued at RM1.95 billion, from 1.41 billion shares, worth RM1.84 billion, recorded on last Friday.

Warrants turnover was higher at 532.69 million units, worth RM170.75 million, against 404.61 million units, valued at RM112.24 million, traded previously.

Volume on the ACE Market fell to 283.87 million shares, valued at RM87.20 million versus Friday’s 369.92 million shares worth RM90.41 million.

Consumer products accounted for 106.20 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (236.56 million), construction (96.50 million), trade and services (530.54 million), technology (89.09 million), infrastructure (13.67 million), SPAC (2.34 million), finance (36.01 million), hotels (2.89 million), properties (113.23 million), plantations (18.40 million), mining (23,400), REITs (7.21 million), and closed/fund (29,100).