Bursa lower as investors stay on sidelines

BURSA Malaysia fell yesterday, taking the cue from underperforming global markets, as investors stayed on the sidelines.

At the close, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 2.12 points to end at 1,674.49 compared to Tuesday’s close of 1,676.61.

The index, which opened 2.38 points lower at 1,674.23, moved between a low of 1,672.59 and a high of 1,677.17 throughout the day.

Losers outpaced gainers 395 to 305, while 447 counters were unchanged, 746 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover, however, rose to 1.83 billion units valued at RM1.55 billion from 1.78 billion units valued at RM1.75 billion yesterday.

Inter-Pacific Securities head of

research Pong Teng Siew said the market was taking a breather with not much movement seen in the FBM KLCI.

“Usually retail investors are very active in buying most volatile penny stocks but not much is happening in that area today (yesterday).

Among the heavyweights, Maybank was one sen lower at RM8.92, Public Bank was flat at RM23.02 and Tenaga was 22 sen weaker at RM13.78. CIMB added four sen to RM5.38 and IHH Healthcare rose two sen to RM5.80.

As for the active stocks, Lambo and Impiana were unchanged at 6.5 sen and four sen, respectively.

V.S. Industry dropped three sen to RM1.09 and Focus Dynamic increased two sen to 18 sen.

The FBM Emas Index fell 14.57 points to 11,792.65, the FBMT 100 Index was down 15.47 points at 11,646.73 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 36.95 points to 12,126.62.

The FBM 70 shed 22.13 points to 14,613.30 while the FBM ACE rose 63.31 points to 4,455.32.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 25.67 points to 16,732.60, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.26 of-a-point to 160.77 while the Plantation Index was 3.28 points weaker at 6,972.98.

Main Market volume rose to 1.1 billion shares worth RM1.38 billion from 1.03 billion shares worth RM1.55 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover slid to 424.78 million units valued at RM91.33 million from 471.8 million units valued at RM128.97 million.

Volume on the ACE Market increased to 303.02 million shares worth RM70.16 million from 283.54 million shares worth RM68.55 million.

The FBM KLCI futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower yesterday.

June 2019 was weaker by 3.0 points at 1,674.5, July 2019 was 2.5 points lower at 1,677.5, September 2019 lost 1.5 points to 1,673.0 and December 2019 declined 4.0 points to 1,667.0.

Turnover decreased to 22,878 lots from 28,103 lots on Tuesday, while open interest declined to 48,987 contracts from 56,827 contracts previously.