Bursa Malaysia snaps three-day winning streak to end lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped a three-day winning streak to end in the red yesterday, dragged by selling in selected heavyweights led by Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd and Public Bank Bhd.

Press Metal gave up 20 sen to RM5.08 and Public Bank fell four sen to RM4.57, with both stocks contributing a combined 4.203 points to the loss in the composite index.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 5.50 points or 0.35 per cent to 1,549.41 from Wednesday’s close of 1,554.91.

The benchmark index, which opened 4.67 points easier at 1,550.24, moved between 1,545.02 and 1,554.53 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 692 to 272, while 380 counters were unchanged, 925 untraded, and 22 others suspended.

Total turnover dwindled to 2.69 billion units worth RM2.23 billion from 3.74 billion units worth RM2.25 billion on Wednesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Bursa Malaysia closed broadly lower due to heavy selling pressure across the region.

“Regionally, key indices were mostly lower, save for the Chinese market, following a steep selldown on Wall Street as investors worry about high inflation and a possible economic recession in the United States (US).

“The US consumer price index rose 8.3 per cent in April from a year earlier, continuing the trend of high inflation rates over recent months, while the prolonged Ukraine-Russia war has accelerated surging prices of energy and grains which will have negative impact on the global economy,” he told Bernama. — Bernama