Bursa Malaysia ends mixed in cautious trading

Malaysia was mixed but the bourse was expected to stage a technical rebound soon, in line with other Asian markets, which were mostly higher following the US Senate’s decision to cut tax.

It was reported that the US Senate had adopted a fiscal 2018 budget resolution, a step forward towards overhauling the tax code.

“Generally, gains were somewhat muted as investors are awaiting the outcome of the Japanese election, as China’s central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, warned of an excessive optimism,” the dealer said.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank fell six sen to RM9.29, Public Bank was down two sen to RM20.46, Tenaga was flat at RM14.32 but Sime Darby rose two sen to RM9.06.

Among active counters, Hubline added 2.5 sen to 19 sen, Trive Property gained 4.5 sen to 24.5 sen, Key Alliance edged up half-a-sen to 16.5 sen while Hibiscus Petroleum was one sen lower at 70 sen.

The FBM Emas Index lost 13.37 points to 12,513.79 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 7.07 points to 12,855.23, and the FBM 70 gained 3.71 points to 15,278.18.

The FBMT 100 Index was down by 16.69 points to 12,155.78 and the FBM Ace slipped 6.99 points to 6,949.37.

Sector- wise, the Plantation Index improved 11.42 points to 7,922.59, while Industrial Index fell 0.65 of-a-point to 3,190.23 and the Finance Index gave up 50.63 points to 16,296.10.

The Main Market volume increased to 1.73 billion units worth RM2.06 billion from 1.69 billion units worth RM2.54 billion.

Volume on the ACE Market shrank to 681.11 million shares valued at RM133.48 million from 1.27 billion shares valued at RM234.41 million.

Warrants volume declined to 153.77 million units worth RM19.53 million versus 191.32 million units worth RM19.66 million.

Consumer products accounted for 171.74 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 330.39 million), construction ( 75.82 million), trade and services ( 569.18 million), technology (388.09 million), infrastructure (11.57 million), SPAC (565,600), finance (48.93 million), hotels ( 391,200), properties ( 95.87 million), plantations ( 22.68 million), mining (12,000), REITs (10.57 million), and closed/fund (9,800).

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