Bursa Malaysia ends almost flat

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed almost f lat yesterday as traders trimmed their positions ahead of the weekend, dealers said.

At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) was 0.06 of- apoint higher at 1,854.5 from Thursday’s close of 1,854.44.

The index opened 4.18 points higher at 1,858.62 and moved between 1,853.57 and 1,862.19 throughout the day.

A dealer said the local market paused for a breather as investors awaited more policy updates from the newly minted Pakatan Harapanled government ahead of the weekend.

Hermana Capital Bhd’s chief executive officer and chief investment officer Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said investors, especially foreign, were still awaiting the formation of the Cabinet for more clarity on the country’s policy going forward.

“The format ion of the Cabinet wil l give a boost to the confidence of foreign investors,” he told Bernama.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank added four sen to RM24.38, TNB gained two sen to RM15.92 and Petronas Chemicals earned one sen to RM8.69.

CIMB lost one sen to RM6.80 while Maybank was f lat at RM10.82.

Among actives, MyEG added two sen to 92.5 sen and Nexgram gained one sen to 4.5 sen while Netx was f lat at three sen.

Sapura Energy slipped half- asen to 76 sen and WCT fell 12.5 sen to 72 sen.

Dayang slipped 16.5 sen to 57 sen at 4.18 pm and was suspended by Bursa Securities until next Monday.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 607 to 380, with 368 counters unchanged, 527 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Volume decreased to 2.91 billion units valued at RM3.16 billion from yesterday’s 3.32 billion units valued at RM3.78 billion.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 30.79 points to 12,863.22, the FBM Ace eased 5.21 points to 5,385.1 and the FBMT 100 Index went down 24.47 points to 12,663.36.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged down 28.31 points to 12,945.64 and the FBM 70 slid 114.89 points to 14,952.36.

Sector- wise, the Finance Index inched up 8.72 points to 18,328.29, the Industrial Index bagged 2.61 points to 3,303.89 while the Plantation Index declined 13.50 points to 7,922.24.

The Main Market volume shrank to 1.96 billion shares worth RM3.01 billion from yesterday’s 2.28 billion shares worth RM3.63 billion.

Warrants volume contracted to 535.13 million units valued at RM83.03 mi l l ion from Thursday’s 602.59 million units valued at RM87.87 million.

Volume on the ACE Market declined to 411.18 million shares worth RM63.09 million from 440.99 million shares worth RM59.64 million previously.

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