Bursa Malaysia closes lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower for the second consecutive day yesterday on continued profit-taking acrossthe-board, after the key index hit an all-time high last week, amid the weaker performance of regional bourses.

Bursa Malaysia closed at an all-time high of 1,895.18, up 15.86 points, on Thursday last week lifted by firmer oil prices.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) ended at 1,880.36, down 7.39 points from Friday’s close of 1,887.75.

It opened 2.71 points higher at 1,890.46 and moved between 1,878.37 and 1,891.59 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers by 711 to 216 while 351 counters remained unchanged, 636 untraded and 18 others suspended.

Volume fell to 1.94 billion units worth RM1.66 billion from 2.44 billion units worth RM2.16 billion last Friday.

A dealer said Asian stocks ended mostly weaker, after opening mixed in the early session, succumbed by concerns over rising US bond yields as well as sell-off in technology shares on Wall Street.

“Investors continue to weigh the outlook for trade discussions and geopolitical tensions on clues for market direction.

“On Bursa Malaysia, persistent selling were seen acrossthe-board, led by financials and telecommunication stocks,” he added.

Regionally, the Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 0.11 per cent higher at 3,576.30, Japan’s Nikkei declined 0.33 per cent to 22,088.04, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.54 per cent to 30,254.40 and South Korea’s Kospi eased 0.09 per cent to 2,474.11.

Among heavyweights, Maybank fell ten sen to RM10.62, Tenaga slipped four sen to RM15.88, Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM8.46 and CIMB reduced six sen to RM7.24.

Public Bank perked ten sen to RM24.30.

Of the top losers, HengYuan Refining and Ajinomoto declined 62 sen each to RM7.70 and RM21.98 respectively, KESM fell 60 sen to RM15.90 and Aeon Credit shed 40 sen to RM13.

For actives, Sapura Energy slid 3.5 sen to 72 sen, UMW Oil & Gas slipped 1.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Nexgram eased half-a-sen to 6.5 sen, Sino Hua-An shed 3.5 sen to 38 sen, while Borneo Oil was flat at eight sen.

The FBM Emas Index was 88.88 points lower at 13,079.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 104.03 points to 13,246.04, the FBMT 100 Index declined 78.91 points to 12,897.11, the FBM 70 fell 191.22 points to 15,425.81 and the FBM Ace slipped 145.49 points to 5,298.63.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index decreased 77.86 points to 18,409.98, the Industrial Index declined 31.47 points to 3,253.23, but the Plantation Index gained 9.71 point to 8,003.60.

Main Market volume fell to 1.21 billion shares worth RM1.51 billion from 1.52 billion shares worth RM1.99 billion last Friday.

Warrants volume narrowed to 430.75 million units valued at RM96.66 million from 536.80 million units valued at RM114.83 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market shrank to 299.25 million shares worth RM50.37 million from 365.4 million shares worth RM57.02 million.

Consumer products accounted for 45.08 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (308.67 million), construction (42.54 million), trade and services (580.44 million), technology (70.05 million), infrastructure (20.12 million), SPAC (34.98 million), finance (25.11 million), hotels (2.93 million), properties (48.19 million), plantations (24.02 million), mining (28,000), REITs (6.89 million) and closed/fund (92,000).

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