Shares on Bursa Malaysia close easier
KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia were lower, easing 0.43 per cent at close, after Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the Malaysian economy is expected to remain on a steady growth path.
“The economy would expand between 4.3 per cent to 4.8 per cent in 2019, anchored by private sector activity, stable income and employment growth and sustained capacity expansion by businesses,” said BNM.
The benchmark index closed 7.21 points lower at 1,642.73 compared with Tuesday’s close of 1,649.94.
The benchmark index opened at 1,649.17, 0.77 point lower, and moved between 1,641.89 and 1,650.22 throughout the day.
On the scoreboard, market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering gainers 403 to 392, while 367 counters remained unchanged, 736 were untraded and 86 others were suspended.
Volume eased to 2.06 billion units worth RM1.71 billion compared with 2.47 billion units worth RM1.76 billion on Tuesday.
Phillip Capital Management Malaysia senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Dr Mohd Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the index went lower than the 1,650-point support level.
The negative move came after stocks in Asia continued what is seen as a choppy stretch for the trading week, as investors gauged a potential global growth slowdown and a possible US recession despite the positive outlook on monetary policy by central banks.
“We believe concerns over global growth have encouraged a rally in US Treasuries and gold as investors seek safehaven assets,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Technically, Nazri said the current chart suggests immediate support at 1,615 points, while resistance-level looms at 1,670 points with the threshold at 1,700 points.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank improved one sen to RM9.26 and Tenaga rose six sen to RM12.58.
PChem was flat at RM9.05, while CIMB decreased five sen to RM5.07 and PBBank declined 34 sen to RM23.40.
Among actives, MRCB and IFCA MSC rose two sen each to 86 sen and 44 sen, respectively.
Bumi Armada, Berjaya Corporation and Perdana Petroleum were flat at 18.5 sen, 27 sen and 40.5 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index declined 43.89 points to 11,531.46, the FBMT 100 decreased 46.25 points to 11,385.54 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index trimmed 14.27 points to 11,656.46.
The FBM Ace Index increased 39.37 points to 4,818.58 but the FBM 70 was 42.1 points lower at 14,122.2.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services index decreased 70.07 points to 16,938.71, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.31 point better at 168.19 and the Plantation Index was 18.15 points higher at 7,217.8.
Main Market volume narrowed to 1.4 billion shares worth RM1.57 billion versus 1.88 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants declined to 354.01 million units valued at RM73.2 million compared with 363.7 million units valued at RM81.14 million.
Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 309.78 million shares worth RM69.53 million from 226.02 million shares worth RM54.6 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 151.74 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (292.1 million), construction (107.42 million), technology (88.32 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (55.5 million), property (141.06 million), plantation (14.79 million), REITs (10.66 million), closed/fund (18,900), energy (443.02 million), healthcare (23.6 million), telecommunications and media (32.96 million), transportation and logistics (19.47 million), and utilities (22.6 million).
For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.