Bursa lower on lack of positive catalysts

BURSA Malaysia pared down losses at the close yesterday but market sentiment remained weak due to lack of positive catalysts.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) inched down 0.6 of-a-point to 1,592.33. The index opened 0.57-of-a-point higher at 1,593.50 from Monday’s close of 1,593.5 and moved between 1,585.58 and 1,593.5 throughout the day.

Overall, market breadth was negative as losers led gainers 425 to 349, with 427 counters unchanged, 784 untraded and 23 others suspended.

Turnover fell to 1.96 billion units worth RM1.57 billion from 2.03 billion units worth RM1.39 billion on Monday.

Among heavyweights, IHH Healthcare added one sen to RM5.70, Maxis improved four sen to RM5.59, Axiata went up three sen to RM4.32 while TNB and CIMB were flat at RM13.64 and RM5.04, respectively.

Maybank weakened by seven sen to RM8.65, Public Bank declined four sen to RM20.10, PetChem was eight sen easier at RM7.46 and Digi fell three sen to RM4.69.

As for the actives, Sapura Energy edged up half-a-sen to 29 sen, Velesto Energy improved 1.5 sen to 32.5 sen, Eduspec and Bumi Armada were one sen easier at 4.5 sen and 33 sen, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index inched down 0.09-of-a-point to 11,252.33, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 1.31 point to 11,084.52 but the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded by 19.56 points to 11,793.37.

The FBM 70 improved by 10.14 points to 13,942.69 and the FBM ACE shed 12.39 points to 4,559.89.

Sector-wise, the Plantation Index went up 45.83 points to 6,768.28, the Financial Services Index slipped 44.41 points to 15,409, and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.31-of-a-point lower at 152.94.

Main Market volume increased to 1.17 billion shares worth RM1.45 billion compared with 1.22 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover, however, slipped to 307.19 million units worth RM59.05 million from 425.01 million units valued at RM96.69 million.

Volume on the ACE Market rose to 501.55 million shares worth RM62.79 million from 384.91 million shares worth RM53.88 million.

The FBM KLCI futures contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended higher despite the weaker underlying market.

At close, spot month September 2019 increased 8.0 points to 1,560, October 2019 gained 4.0 points to 1,589, December 2019 advanced by 3.5 points to 1,593 and March 2020 went up 5.0 points to 1,591.

Turnover was higher at 9,170 lots from 7,417 on Monday, while open interest widened to 37,401 contracts from 35,471 previously.