Bursa Malaysia ends in negative territory

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the first day trading in March in the negative territory with the key index falling by 0.67 per cent, weighed down by selling in glove stocks.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 10.61 points to 1,567.14 from 1,577.75 at Friday’s closing.

The key index opened 0.95 ofa-point higher at 1,578.70 and moved between 1,563.18 and 1,584.46 throughout the day.

Market breadth was also negative with losers outpacing gainers 733 to 503, while 391 counters were unchanged, 516 untraded and 14 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 10.69 billion units worth RM6.10 billion from Friday’s 9.81 billion units worth RM7.0 billion.

Among the 30 FBM KLCI constituents, Top Glove trimmed 34 sen to RM4.90, Hartalega shed 62 sen to RM9.38, and Supermax slipped 48 sen to RM4.36.

Meanwhile, Maybank added three sen to RM8.06, Public Bank gained four sen to RM4.20, Petronas Chemicals advanced eight sen to RM7.51, TNB jumped 22 sen to RM10.32, and IHH Healthcare rose 21 sen to RM5.29.

The trading in the shares of AMMB Holdings was suspended for two days from today after the banking group agreed to pay RM2.83 billion to the Malaysian government as settlement on all outstanding claims and actions in relation to its involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd corruption scandal.