Bursa Malaysia ends broadly lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended in the red amid broad selling activities and in line with Asian markets as investors remained on the sidelines on heightened volatility in the global markets, said a dealer.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 26.69 points or 1.54 per cent to end at 1,708.49 versus Wednesday’s close of 1,735.18.
The index moved within a wide range of 1,682.98 to 1,708.77 yesterday after opening 35.42 points weaker at 1,699.76.
On Bursa Malaysia’s scoreboard, market breadth was negative with losers hammering gainers 993 to 116 while 286 counters were unchanged, 479 untraded and 18 others were suspended.
Volume was higher at 3.10 billion units valued at RM3.70 billion against Wednesday’s 3.02 billion units valued at RM2.96 billion.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 3.89 per cent to 22,590.86, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 2.61 per cent to 3,049.87 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 3.54 per cent to 25,266.37.
The US market plunged overnight to an eight-month low, following sharp declines in technology counters amid concerns over rising interest rates.
The International Monetary Fund recently warned that risks were building up in the global financial system, coupled with a further escalation in the trade tensions between the United States and China which could push the situation over the edge.
“The regional markets are at a badly bashed-down state. Malaysia is a little bit better than most markets in the region. Most markets have taken a beating and have not recovered.
“I think this is part of a long process, involving liquidity slowly being sucked out of the market everywhere – not just equities but also bonds, commodities and currencies as they are interlinked – and the impact is creeping up,” InterPacific Securities research head Pong Teng Siew told Bernama.
He added that the gloal liquidity had been on the ebb since April.
On the oil market, Brent crude down 1.95 per cent to US$81.47 per barrel.
Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Maybank contracted 23 sen to RM9.28, TNB slid 40 sen to RM14.28, IHH Healthcare fell 25 sen to RM5, CIMB and Digi decreased 18 sen each to RM5.66 and RM4.39, respectively, while Genting Malaysia was 25 sen easier at RM4.41.
As for actives, Sapura Energy and Borneo Oil both edged up half-a-sen to 36.5 sen and six sen, respectively, Gamuda surged 23 sen to RM2.30, Hibiscus Petroleum went down six sen to RM1.19, MYEG gave up five sen to RM1.47 and Sime Darby was down by three sen to RM2.60.
The FBM Emas Index trimmed 157.44 points to 11,858.58, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 131.35 points to 11,892.55 and the FBMT 100 Index eased 149.21 points to 11,685.70.
The FBM Ace Index decreased 123.11 points to 4,904.35 while the FBM 70 narrowed by 47.06 points to 13,823.21.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index slipped 56.73 points to 7,392.54, the Financial Services Index weakened 268.36 points to 17,219.3 while the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 2.39 point to 170.88.
Main Market volume advanced to 2.08 billion shares valued at RM3.52 billion against 1.95 billion shares, worth RM2.77 billion, on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover eased slightly to 566.80 million units, worth RM105.21 million, from Wednesday’s 569.73 million units valued at RM93.28 million.
Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 455.56 million units, valued at RM82.14 million, from 507.26 million units worth RM96.44 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 283.15 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (332.71 million), construction (214.82 million), technology (234.91 million), SPAC (474,000), financial services (81.71 million), property (149.68 million), plantations (27.39 million), REITs (7.07 million), closed/fund (20,000), energy (511.27 million), healthcare (41.69 million), telecommunication and media (81.51 million), transportation and logistics (57.99 million), and utilities (56.03 million).
For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www. bursamalaysia.com.