Bursa Malaysia closes slightly lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia clawed back earlier losses to close slightly lower, amid mild selling in selected heavyweights despite a stronger regional market, dealers said.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) stood at 1,755.14, down 0.03 of-a-point, after opening lower at 1,754.19 against Monday’s close of 1,755.17.

It moved between 1,747.76 and 1,756.77 throughout the session.

Market breadth was positive with 534 gainers against 369 losers while 410 counters were unchanged, 587 untraded and 22 others were suspended.

Volume dropped to 2.73 billion units valued at RM2.69 billion, from Monday’s close of 2.77 billion units valued at RM2.82 billion.

InterPacific Securities head of research Pong Teng Siew said the profit-taking correction should persist for the next few days to neutralise the extremely overbought momentum and promote a more sustainable uptrend ahead.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times index rose 0.45 per cent to 3,483.16, Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.28 per cent to 22,539.54 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.31 per cent to 31,093.45.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank decreased one sen to RM9.65, CIMB Group eased two sen to RM6.08 while Public Bank was unchanged at RM24.02, TNB rose two sen to RM14.36 and Petronas Chemicals added five sen to RM8.30.

Among the most actively traded stocks, MyEG gained five sen to 73.5 sen, UCrest increased 6.5 sen to 32 sen while Sapura Energy declined half-a-sen to 58 sen.

The FBM Emas Index increased 27.35 points to 12,283.10, the FBMT 100 Index perked 27.36 points to 12,283.10 and the FBM Ace added 95.10 points to 5,142.84.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index edged up 63.45 points to 12,300.72 and the FBM 70 was 96.80 points higher at 14,637.49.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index slid 87.06 points to 17,547.35, the Industrial Index eased 0.29 of-a-point to 3,197.20 while the Plantation Index rose 91.66 points to 7,736.37.

Main Market volume declined to 1.65 billion shares worth RM2.41 billion, from Monday’s close of 1.76 billion shares worth RM2.6 billion.

Warrants volume erased to 568.19 million units valued at RM132.06 million, from 604.61 million units valued at RM133.60 million.

Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 506.30 million shares worth RM146.64 million from Monday’s 400.42 million shares worth RM111.17 million.

Consumer products accounted for 36.71 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 272.97 million), construction ( 152.64 million), trade and services ( 676.07 million), technology ( 143.91 million), infrastructure (18.57 million), SPAC (63.72 million), finance (91.73 million), hotels (3.76 million), properties (156.88 million), plantations ( 22.93 million), mining (14,300), REITs (11.53 million), and closed/fund (3,000).

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