Bursa Malaysia succumbs to selling in heavyweights, CI down 0.45 per cent

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended in the negative territory yesterday, with key index declining 0.45 per cent, weighed down by selling pressure in selected heavyweights led by Supermax and Sime Darby.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.19 points or 0.45 per cent, to 1,581.26 from Wednesday’s close of 1,588.45.

The key index opened 0.44 ofa-point higher at 1,588.89 and moved between 1,577.39 and 1,590.46 throughout the day.

Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 699 to 445, while 433 counters were unchanged, 576 untraded and nine others suspended.

Total volume decreased to 9.63 billion units worth RM5.37 billion from Wednesday’s 10.78 billion units worth RM6.18 billion.

The performance of local bourse was also in line with most regional peers as market sentiment was dented by rising US bond yield, said a dealer.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 2.13 per cent to 28,930.11, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.15 per cent to 29,236.79, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid 2.05 per cent to 3,503.49.

Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia has maintained the Overnight Policy Rate at 1.75 per cent at its second Monetary Policy Commi ee (MPC) meeting yesterday.

The central bank’s MPC considers the stance of monetary policy to be appropriate and accommodative.

Among the heavyweights, Supermax declined 30 sen to RM4.36, Sime Darby and Genting Bhd eased one sen each to RM2.29 and RM4.94, respectively, Genting Malaysia declined five sen to RM2.97, and Dialog went down three sen to RM3.25.

Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange and GFM Services rose 2.5 sen each to 64 sen and 34 sen, respectively, Asian Pac increased two sen to 16.5 sen, Minetech edged up half-a-sen to 16.5 sen, Green Ocean was flat at six sen, and XOX slipped one sen to seven sen. — Bernama