Bursa Malaysia ends lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the week easier yesterday, dragged down by selling in finance and consumer stocks, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 2.28 points lower at 1,808.59 after moving between 1,798.84 and 1,808.59 during the session.

The index opened 4.52 points weaker at 1,806.35 from Thursday's close of 1,810.87.

Market breadth was negative as losers thumped gainers 638 to 267 with 387 counters unchanged, 598 untraded and 34 others suspended.

Volume rose to 2.59 billion units worth RM2.20 billion from Thursday's 2.25 billion units worth RM2.46 billion.

Inter-Pacific Securities Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said Bursa Malaysia's decline, however, was capped by gains in trade and services, with Axiata and Genting gaining 10 sen each to RM4.72 and RM8.74, respectively.

“The local market closed lower after recent gains on profit-taking ahead of the weekend, curbing interest despite the mixed performance on the regional markets.

“On global sentiment, the volatility of the local bourse also was mainly attributed to worries over trade tensions between the US and China as no conclusion was reached at their two-day bilateral trade meeting which ended yesterday,” he told Bernama.

Pong said this has caused further concerns among investors on the direction of the trade war.

“The markets turned defensive and investors are seeking other safe-haven assets which are less affected by the situation,” he added.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times index decreased 1.07 per cent to 3,215.21, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 0.43 per cent to 27,671.87, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.85 per cent to 22,601.77 and China's SSE Composite Index gained 0.18 per cent to 2,729.43.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.81, Public Bank eased 42 sen to RM24.90 and TNB reduced four sen to RM15.70.

Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM9.37 and CIMB improved four sen to RM5.98.

Among actives, Sapura Energy lost 18 sen to 41.5 sen, Borneo Oil gained half-a-sen to 6.5 sen, MY EG shed four sen to RM1.35, and UCrest dipped 4.5 sen to 34 sen.

The FBM Emas Index declined 49.92 points to 12,741.49, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 45.04 points to 12,528.81 and the FBM 70 fell 165.04 points to 15,425.37.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index slid 49.92 points to 12,741.49 and the FBM Ace Index slipped 64.47 points to 5,435.10.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 31.93 points lower at 17,684.73, the Industrial Index trimmed 26.43 points to 3,239.26 and the Plantation Index fell 27.01 points to 7,645.35.

Main Market volume widened to 1.90 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion from Thursday's 1.49 billion shares worth RM2.26 billion.

Warrants turnover shed to 387.22 million units valued at RM93.18 million against 400.93 million units valued at RM102.87 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market contracted to 300.06 million shares valued at RM94.52 million versus Thursday's 353.34 million shares valued at RM99.25 million.

Consumer products accounted for 89.78 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (257.77 million), construction (89.45 million), trade and services (1.16 billion), technology (110.09 million), infrastructure (8.23 million), SPAC (50,000), finance (51.94 million), hotels (457,500 million), properties (93.14 million), plantations (15.73 million), mining (15,500), REITs (4.30 million), and closed/fund (22,400).

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