Bursa Malaysia ends the week mixed

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended mixed yesterday in tandem with the mixed performance on regional bourses, with last-minute buying pushing the broader market into the positive territory, dealers said.

At close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 3.08 points lower at 1,779.90 after moving between 1,775.06 and 1,782.81 throughout the day.

It opened 1.91 points lower at 1,781.07 from Thursday’s close of 1,782.98.

Market breadth was positive with gainers leading losers 473 to 384 with 404 counters unchanged, 573 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Volume rose to 2.97 billion units worth RM2.27 billion from 2.63 billion units valued at RM2.41 billion on Thursday.

A dealer said Asian stocks ended mixed yesterday following mixed signals from regional events whereby the robust Chinese trade data lent support to the broader Asian shares while ongoing tensions over North Korea and the weakening risk appetite due to Hurricane Irma brought on negative sentiment.

China’s trade balance came in at a surplus US$41.99 billion, albeit narrower than the US$48.6 billion expected for August, while in North Korea, there were some speculation that Pyongyang might try another missile launch on its national day on Saturday.

On the local front, Bursa Malaysia traded mostly lower yesterday weighed down by sellinginselectedheavyweights, after two sessions of gains, with finance and consumer discretionary stocks dragging the index down.

It ended mixed on last-minute buying on the broader market, the dealer said.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.63 per cent to 19,274.82, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.53 per cent to 27,668.47, South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.10 per cent to 2,343.75, and the Singapore Straits Times index eased 0.04 per cent to 3,225.92.

For heavyweights, Maybank gained 11 sen to RM9.60, Tenaga and Public Bank added two sen each to RM14.58 and RM20.60 respectively, Sime Darby improved four sen to RM9.07 and CIMB Group fell 15 sen to RM6.76.

Among active counters, Sino Hua-An rose 5.5 sen to 23.5 sen, Palette Multimedia gained 1.5 sen to 23.5 sen, while PUC and JAG were flat at 14 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Index was 11.37 points lower at 12,689.28, FBMT 100 Index slid 14.13 points to 12,357.52 and the FBM Ace fell 38.58 points to 6,649.58.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 1.79 points to 12,886.14 while the FBM 70 added 9.89 points to 15,262.92.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index rose 9.01 points to 7,890.21, Industrial Index improved 3.58 points to 3,208.72 but the Finance Index slid 14.99 points to 16,726.53.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.76 billion shares, worth RM2.06 billion, from 1.70 billion shares worth RM2.23 billion recorded on Thursday.

For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.