Sentiment pulls down Bursa by 4.81 points

BURSA Malaysia extended the earlier downtrend to close lower yesterday as investors’ risk appetite was weighed down by cautious market sentiment.

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 4.81 points easier at 1,599.49 against Tuesday’s close of 1,604.30 and moved between 1,594.09 and 1,599.57 throughout the day. The index opened 4.73 points lower at 1,599.57.

Overall, market breadth was negative with losers led gainers 480 to 339, while 416 counters were unchanged, 736 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Turnover fell to 1.98 billion units worth RM1.60 billion from Tuesday’s close of 2.73 billion units worth RM2.18 billion.

Phillip Capital Management senior vice-president (Investment) Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the FBM KLCI cautiously traded as investors awaited the outcome from Federal Reserve (Fed) two-day meeting for more precise signals.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank rose five sen to RM8.70, Public Bank was flat at RM20.16 and TNB erased two sen to RM13.60.

The FBM Emas Index declined 22.22 points to 11,229.47, the FBMT 100 Index was 21.48 points weaker at 11,133.75 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 2.06 points to 11,861.70.

The FBM ACE shed 1.94 points to 4,531.03, but the FBM 70 rose 22.73 points to 14,002.18.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index eased 105.27 points to 15,450.05 and the Plantation Index dropped 9.10 points to 6,825.09, while the Industrial Products and Services fell 0.56 point to 154.58.

Main Market volume contracted to 1.18 billion shares worth RM1.43 billion from 1.92 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover narrowed to 334.11 million units worth RM72.68 million from 534.27 million units worth RM108.77 million.

Volume on the ACE Market, however, rose to 469.55 million shares worth RM94.49 million from 272.25 million shares worth RM54.10 million previously.

Meanwhile the FBM KLCI futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher yesterday.

Spot month September 2019, December 2019 and March 2020 added one point each to 1,592.0, 1,596.5 and 1,591.5, respectively, while October 2019 rose 1.5 points to 1,593.5.

Turnover, however, decreased to 4,830 lots from 7,710 lots on Tuesday, while open interest eased to 31,823 contracts from 35,309 contracts previously.