Bursa Malaysia snaps six-day winning streak

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped a six-day winning streak yesterday by ending 0.65 per cent lower, in tandem with the performance of its regional peers.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 10.18 points to finish at 1,566.72 from Monday’s close of 1,576.90.

The index opened 5.13 points higher at 1,582.03 and moved between 1,562.88 and 1,587.64 throughout the period.

Overall market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 648 to 428, while 415 counters were unchanged, 445 untraded and 25 others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 7.78 billion shares worth RM4.93 billion from Monday’s 8.73 billion shares worth RM5.07 billion.

Regionally, China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange gained 0.37 per cent to 3,345.34, Japan’s Nikkei Index eased 0.44 per cent to 22,614.69, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.38 per cent 25,614.69, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 1.13 per cent to 2,659.12.

A dealer said the Chinese equity market extended its gains yesterday on the government’s push for a stronger market, while the rest of the region turned negative despite opening on a firm note while taking a cue from strong performance on Wall Street.

Maybank Investment Bank senior chartist Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah said locally, Bursa Malaysia opened firmer extending Monday’s high gains, but retreated at mid-morning pressured by profit taking on heavyweight stocks.

“Profit-taking activity mostly dragged the blue chips and the second liners while the ACE market continued to advance today after gaining 3.16 per cent,” he said.

“The selling pressure was largely seen in energy, construction, industrial and healthcare sectors although the latter (healthcare) recouped some of its earlier losses,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday announced that the Overnight Policy Rate would be reduced by another 25 basis points to 1.75 per cent, a record low since the floor was set in 2004.

Commenting on this, Nik Ihsan said the cut was largely seen to be the last one for this year as the overall market had started adapting to a new normal.

“The impact was also likely priced-in by investors as the financial stocks had rallied over the past five days,” he added.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank reduced one sen to RM7.82, Tenaga fell 26 sen to RM11.60 and Petronas Chemicals dropped 31 sen to RM6.63.

Public Bank added six sen to RM17.40 and Hartalega rose 20 sen to RM16.70.

Of the most active, Iris increased three sen to 26 sen, DGB Asia and Anzo edged up half-a-sen each to 3.5 sen and 23.5 sen respectively, Securemetric eased one sen to 11.5 sen and AT System was flat at 9.5 sen.