Bursa Malaysia closes slightly lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed slightly lower yesterday as mild profit-taking emerged among selective heavyweight stocks.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.12 of-apoint or 0.007 per cent to close at 1,657.42. The benchmark index, which opened 1.41 points weaker at 1,656.13, moved between 1,651.90 and 1,659.76 throughout the day.

Market breath was mixed with 397 gainers, 340 losers, 350 countersunchanged,614untraded and 19 others suspended.

Volume fell to 1.38 billion units worth RM1.41 billion from 1.81 billion units worth RM1.70 billion on Thursday.

Mercury Securities Head of Research Edmund Tham told Bernama that the easier local bourse performance was in line with the weaker sentiment on regional bourses.

South Korea's Kospi Index lost 0.09 per cent to 2,010.34 while Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 0.04 per cent to 2,939.45.

China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.87 per cent to 3,012.43 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.16 per cent to 21,964.27.

Tham said the weak external factors, particularly lower commodity prices, including that of crude oil, and the global growth rate cut by the International Monetary Fund, weighed on market sentiment.

The IMF cuts the global growth forecast to 3.1 per cent in 2016 and 3.4 per cent in 2017.

Another dealer said global oil prices were down on worries over persisting global supply glut while the weaker ringgit also dampened investor sentiment.

Of heavyweights, Public Bank lost 16 sen to RM19.30, Petronas Gas fell 24 sen to RM22.02, while TNB added six sen to RM14.32, Maybank expanded one sen to RM8.03 and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.48.

Among actives, TH Heavy added three sen to 11.5 sen, Sanichi dropped two sen to 12.5 sen and AirAsia X went up halfa-sen to 38 sen.

The FBM Emas Index rose 13.62 points to 11,611.17, the FBMT100 Index added 11.58 points to 11,307.22 and the FBM 70 gained 58.80 points to 13,216.15.

The FBM Emas Syariah Index added 26.07 points to 12,213.36 and the FBM Ace appreciated 39.86 points to 5,440.39.

Sector- wise, the Finance Index trimmed 48.12 points to 14,101.64, the Industrial Index fell 10.97 points to 3,133.08, and the Plantation Index slid 8.60 points to 7,574.50.

Main Market turnover fell to 934.39 million shares worth RM1.33 billion from Thursday's 1.23 billion shares worth RM1.60 billion.

The ACE Market volume decreased to 265.69 million units valued at RM52.67 million from 366.82 million units valued at RM69.86 million previously.

Warrants declined to 177.45 million shares worth RM27.83 million from 207.18 million shares worth RM29.96 million on Thursday.

Consumer products accounted for 74.45 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 158.01 million), construction ( 56.11 million), trade and services ( 424.88 million), technology ( 63.83 million), infrastructure (10.45 million), SPAC (5.50 million), finance (38.46 million), hotels ( 862,800), properties ( 64.57 million), plantations ( 21.96 million), mining ( nil), REITs (15.27 million) and closed/fund (23,700).