Bursa Malaysia ends lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished trading slightly lower Friday due to selling in selected blue chips and heavyweights, in line with the mixed performance of regional peers.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) wrapped up the week 3.26 points easier at 1,641.81 compared with Thursday’s close of 1,645.07.

The index opened 0.1 of- apoint better at 1,645.08 and moved between 1,640.30 and 1,645.09 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 388 to 381, while 396 counters remained unchanged, 681 were untraded and 21 others suspended.

Volume was down to 2.65 billion units worth RM1.57 billion from 3.18 billion previously.

A dealer said despite the slightly weaker trading seen on the local bourse yesterday, the overall outlook of the global equities market remained positive as investors had high hopes that the US- China trade deal would end soon.

“Reports that a new consensus had been reached on the USChina trade talks has boosted some emerging markets with their indices edging higher. However, Bursa Malaysia has bucked the trend, no thanks to the country’s disappointing export data released Thursday, which dragged down some of the manufacturing stocks,” the dealer said.

Malaysia’s exports dropped 5.3 per cent in February yearon-year.

Regionally, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.17 per cent to 29,936.32, Japan’s Nikkei was up by 0.38 per cent to 21,807.50, Singapore Straits Times improved 0.21 per cent to 3,323.04 while Jakarta Composite Index slid 0.32 per cent to 6,474.02.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM9.26, Public Bank declined 10 sen to RM22.88, PetChem was flat at RM9.10 but CIMB rose one sen to RM5.11.

Among actives, Scomi gained 4.5 sen to 11 sen, Trive Property added half- a- sen to two sen, Priceworth was f lat at seven sen and Scomi Energy eased one sen to 12 sen.

The FBM Emas Index fell 15.60 points to 11,600.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 6.17 points to 11,787.46 and the FBMT 100 shed 17.52 points to 11,437.63.

The FBM 70 was 1.00 point lower at 14,424.54 and the FBM Ace Index slid 10.92 points to 4,815.61.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 0.01 of- a-point to 169.54, the Plantation Index rose 29.07 points to 7,236.55 while the Financial Services Index lost 34.05 points to 16,888.72.

Main Market volume shrank to 2.15 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion from 2.4 billion shares worth RM1.96 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover dwindled to 195.19 million units valued at RM24.56 million from 452.56 million units valued at RM104.45 million previously.

Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 303.62 million shares worth RM49.18 million versus 331.75 million shares worth RM65.82 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 271.56 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (409.82 million), construction (144.12 million), technology ( 248.30 million), SPAC (nil), financial services ( 28.61 million), property ( 113.16 million), plantation ( 20.61 million), REITs (11.97 million), closed/ fund ( 1,000), energy ( 783.78 million), healthcare ( 21.85 million), telecommunications and media ( 20.45 million), transportation and logistics ( 51 million), and utilities ( 25.59 million).

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