Bursa Malaysia closes at intra-day low, down 13.89 points

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended at an intra-day low on the last trading day of January, echoing the negative performance of regional bourses and poor global market sentiment.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) gave up 13.89 points or 0.92 per cent to 1,485.50 from Monday’s close of 1,499.39.

It opened 5.60 points lower at 1,493.79 and moved between 1,485.50 and 1,493.89 throughout the session.

Market breadth was negative, losers thumped gainers 632 to 325, while 389 counters were unchanged, 861 untraded and 45 others suspended.

Turnover shrank to 4.03 billion units worth RM2.78 billion against Monday’s 4.56 billion units worth RM2.44 billion.

Commenting on yesterday’s market performance, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed lower in tandem with the negative performance of regional bourses.

“Key regional indices closed lower with strong selling on tech stocks following the negative cue from Wall Street as investors are cautious ahead of key US economic data and major central bank meetings,” he told Bernama.

He explained that investors are expecting the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday and the European Central Bank by 50 basis points on Thursday.

“As for the local bourse, we believe today’s selldown offers opportunity to bargain hunt stocks at lower levels.

“Hence, we reckon the benchmark index to stage a rebound soon.

“We maintain our FBM KLCI target for the week at between 1,490 and 1,505,” he added.

The regional key indices were all in red, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 losing 0.39 per cent to 27,327.11, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.03 per cent to 21,842.33, Singapore’s Strait Times Index slid 0.43 per cent to 3,363.70 and South Korea’s Kospi erased 1.04 per cent to 2,425.08.

Back home, losers in the heavyweights were led by Petronas Gas, erasing 78 sen to RM16.82, Hong Leong Bank shed 68 sen to RM20.52, Digi lost 11 sen at RM4.21, Petronas Dagangan declined RM1.08 to RM21.80 while Petronas Chemicals was 10 sen easier at RM8.35.

Meanwhile Maybank erased four sen to RM8.74, Public Bank was two sen easier at RM4.24, CIMB shed three sen to RM5.75.

As for the actives, ACE market debutante, Vestland added six sen to 39 sen, while Borneo Oil, G3 Global, Zen Tech and Sapura Energy were all flat at two sen, three sen, 6.5 sen and five sen respectively.

Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed today in conjunction with Federal Territory Day celebration.