Bursa Malaysia, Asian peers close in the red

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia, together with its Asian peers, closed in the red on Wednesday, amid uncertainties related to the US-China trade war truce, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 6.72 points easier at 1,688.27 after opening 11.41 points weaker at 1,683.58.

The index moved between 1,683.03 and 1,688.60 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 519 to 251, while 365 counters were unchanged, 734 untraded and 21 others suspended.

Volume narrowed to 1.75 billion units, valued at RM1.52 billion, from 2.44 billion units worth RM2.08 billion.

A dealer said the trading hours for some of the US exchanges had been shortened yesterday as a mark of respect for the late President George HW Bush.

“However, the trading so far has been lower following the decline in long-term US Treasury yields, making investors worry about the US economic outlook,” he said.

Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 440.76 points or 1.62 per cent to 26,819.68, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 17.01 points or 0.51 per cent to 3,150.10 while Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index was 19.74 points or 0.32 per cent lower at 6,133.12.

Back home, among heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank were flat each at RM9.42 and RM24.88, respectively, Tenaga lost 22 sen to RM13.93 and Petronas Chemicals rose six sen to RM9.21.

Of actives, Bumi Armada fell 1.5 sen to 17 sen, Sapura Energy shed one sen to 33.5 sen, Main Market debutant Techbond jumped 20 sen to 86 sen and Hubline was flat at four sen.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 71.79 points to 11,685.88, the FBM 70 shed 39.66 points to 13,566.04 and FBM Ace Index was 61.46 points weaker at 4,743.82.

The FBM Emas Index depreciated 48.28 points to 11,653.71 and the FBMT 100 Index edged down 43.04 points to 11,528.94.

Sector- wise, the Plantation Index eased 31.64 points to 6,905.32 and the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.52 of-a-point weaker at 169.87 but the Financial Services Index gained 11.59 points to 17,457.81.

Main Market volume decreased to 1.27 billion shares, worth RM1.4 billion, from 1.91 billion shares valued at RM1.96 billion recorded previously.

Warrants turnover fell to 306.05 million units valued at RM81.96 million versus 334.85 million units worth RM78.31 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 170.32 million shares valued at RM36.67 million compared with 189.21 million shares worth RM42.02 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 184.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services ( 322.43 million), construction ( 67.44 million), technology (81.73 million), SPAC (264,400), financial services (29.75 million), property (68.53 million), plantations ( 37.36 million), REITs ( 7.13 million), closed/ fund (0), energy (344.58 million), healthcare ( 31.20 million), telecommunication and media (35.52 million), transportation and logistics (40.99 million), and utilities (18.15 million).

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