Bursa Malaysia closes lower on lack of follow-through buying

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower yesterday on lack of follow-through buying despite a promising start, dealers said.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased two points to 1,728.74 against Friday’s close of 1,730.74.

The barometer index opened 1.34 points weaker at 1,729.4 and traded between 1,726.25 and 1,739.32 throughout the day.

A dealer said the local stock market tracked the lacklustre performance of major regional bourses amid lingering concerns over the implications of rising US interest rates and trade tensions between China and the US.

“Asian stocks slipped on Monday as investors remained cautious, following global losses in the previous week,” he said.

Regionally, the Nikkei 225 lost 1.87 per cent to 22,271.30, the Shanghai Composite declined 1.49 per cent to 2,568.1, the Hang Seng Index erased 1.38 per cent to 25,445.06 and the Kospi Index eased 0.77 per cent to 2,145.12.

On the scoreboard, market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 532 to 342 with 359 counters unchanged, 649 untraded and 17 others suspended.

Volume was easier at 2.02 billion units valued at RM2.02 billion, versus Friday’s 2.22 billion units worth RM2.49 billion.

Among Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were flat at RM9.58 and RM24.98 respectively, while TNB and CIMB lost two sen each to RM14.58 and RM5.93 respectively.

Petronas Chemicals perked 12 sen to RM9.40.

As for actives, Sapura Energy and Trive Property slipped half a sen each to 35.5 sen and 1.5 sen respectively, while Priceworth International was flat at four sen.

Hibiscus Petroleum added four sen to RM1.22 and Gamuda gained seven sen to RM2.42.

The FBM Emas Index weakened 17.48 points to 11,964.38, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 9.99 points to 11,978.97 and the FBMT 100 Index eased 14.87 points to 11,794.75.

The FBM Ace Index increased 38.65 points to 4,969.37 while the FBM 70 edged down 22.28 points to 13,837.81.

Sector- wise, the Plantation Index was 24.35 points lower at 7,387.45 and the Financial Services Index contracted 16.68 points to 17,511.94 while the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.4 point to 172.

Main Market volume eased to 1.40 billion shares worth RM1.89 billion from 1.45 billion shares worth RM2.34 billion traded on Friday.

Warrants turnover fell to 409.36 million units valued at RM82.39 million from 452.14 million units valued at RM91.12 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market dwindled to 209.59 million shares worth RM51.59 million from 315.58 million shares worth RM58.90 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 176.3 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services ( 294.48 million), construction ( 115.18 million), technology ( 177.99 million), SPAC (170,000), financial services ( 42.5 million), property ( 93.04 million), plantations ( 11.05 million), REITs ( 2.8 million), closed/ fund ( 27,000), energy (380.8 million), healthcare (32.87 million), telecommunication and media ( 26.06 million), transportation and logistics (26.65 million), and utilities (29.98 million).

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