Bursa closes lower on selling in industrial products, plantation counters

KUALA LUMPUR: Persistence selling in selected industrial products and services as well as plantation counters has pushed Bursa Malaysia to end the week lower yesterday, in line with weaker sentiment in most regional bourses, dealers said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 6.85 points to 1,601.65 compared to Wednesday’s close of 1,608.50.

The market bellwether opened 6.71 points higher at 1,615.21 and moved between 1,600.05 and 1,615.60 during trading session.

Overall market breadth remained negative as losers thumped gainers 582 versus 508, while 453 counters were unchanged, 648 untraded and 51 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 6.75 billion shares worth RM4.61 billion from 6.59 billion shares worth RM3.85 billion on Wednesday.

Thursday was a market holiday to celebrate Nuzul al-Quran.

A dealer said most investors grew cautious in the late session of the day, as weaker-than-expected Chinese factory indicators and concerns about Beijing’s clampdown on Internet companies overcome the firmer Wall Street.

Data from the national Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in China showed that the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 51.1 in April from 51.9 in March.

The dealer said Asian markets likely reacted negatively to the weaker data as well as restrictions imposed by regulators on China’s big tech companies.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.25 per cent to 28,979.97, China’s Hang Seng was flat at 29,303.26, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.27 per cent to 3,230.40.

Among the heavyweights, Press Metal Aluminium and Kuala Lumpur Kepong led the top losers list after declining 15 sen and 80 sen each to RM5.20 and RM22, respectively.

The decline in both counters dragged the composite index down by 3.97 points.

Among other heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank shed 2.0 sen each to RM8.23 and RM4.15, respectively, TNB went down 4.0 sen to RM9.96, IHH Healthcare reduced 1.0 sen to RM5.38 while Petronas Chemicals gained 9.0 sen to RM8.20.

As for the active counters, Focus Dynamics slipped 1.5 sen to 11.5 sen, KTG decreased 1.0 sen to 23.5 sen, Hiap Teck improved 7.0 sen to 63.5 sen while Vortex Consolidated earned half-a-sen to 14.5 sen.

Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia has issued an unusual market activity (UMA) query to Stella Holdings Bhd over the sharp rise in the price and volume of the company’s shares yesterday.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 42.52 points to 11,798.29, the FBMT 100 eased 48.87 points to 11,450.16, the FBM 70 dipped 66.06 points to 15,576.14, the FBM Emas Shariah dropped 32.92 points to 13,272.50, while the FBM ACE declined 18.98 points to 8,846.02.