Lower in line with other Asian bourses

BURSA Malaysia closed in negative territory yesterday as the decline on Wall Street overnight dented local market sentiment throughout the day.

The FBM KLCI ended at its intraday high of 1,686.59 losing 3.45 points. It touched a low of 1,670.34.

Market breadth was negative with losers overwhelming gainers 768 to 173 with 333 counters unchanged, 639 untraded and 31 suspended. Volume was lower at 2.24 billion units valued at RM2.33 billion.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank recovered 9 sen to RM9.47, Public Bank rose 2 sen to RM24.90, TNB was 10 sen higher at RM14 while Petronas Chemicals fell 9 sen to RM9.25.

On the technical front, Kenanga Research said the FBM KLCI’s outlook was increasingly bearish and was now below the 1,700 psychological support, staging yet another downtrend.

“With key momentum indicators still in negative territory, support levels are identified at 1,658 and 1,614. Should market sentiment improve, key levels of resistance to look for are at 1,735 and 1,760,” it said in a note.

A dealer said: “The market is jittery, caused by weak US housing data, mixed corporate earnings results, trade war fears and worries of slowing global economy.”

He noted that the S&P 500 fell 3.09%, the Nasdaq Composite index 4.43% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 2.41%. – Bernama