Bursa Malaysia ends mixed on profit taking

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the holiday-shortened week mixed, with the key index declining 0.19 per cent due to profit-taking activities following Thursday’s solid performance, an analyst said.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 2.97 points to 1,522.76 from 1,525.73 at previous day’s close.

The index, which opened 0.57 ofa-point higher at 1,526.30, moved between 1,518.82 and 1,526.80 throughout the day.

Meanwhile, overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 553 to 324, while 397 counters were unchanged, 932 untraded, and 23 others suspended.

Total turnover improved to 2.43 billion units worth RM1.65 billion from 2.05 billion units valued at RM1.62 billion recorded Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets, meanwhile, closed broadly higher, shrugging off the technology sell-down on Wall Street.

“Investors are awaiting for the latest update on the recovering US jobs market data which will be released later on Friday.

“With the market volatility heightened again, we reckon regional and local markets to be similarly affected,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.44 per cent to 3,330.73, Japan’s Nikkei 225 expanded 0.73 per cent to 27,439.99, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index strengthened 3.24 per cent to 24,573.29.

Among the heavyweights, IOI Corp shed 15 sen to RM3.74, Maybank dropped six sen to RM8.26, Tenaga Nasional weakened 11 sen to RM9.11, and MR DIY lost eight sen to RM3.51.

Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange advanced three sen to RM1.01, SMTrack gained one sen to 17.5 sen, and Hibiscus Petroleum added nine sen to RM1.09.

On the index board, the FBM ACE advanced 59.82 points to 6,185.74, FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 1.06 points to 11,666.81, and FBM 70 rose 10.73 points to 13,479.25.

Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Index dropped 3.94 points to 10,959.57, and the FBMT 100 Index trimmed 14.22 points to 10,642.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 14.26 points to 15,785.69, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 1.59 points to 203.30, and the Plantation Index slid 31.69 to 6,543.86.

The Main Market volume expanded to 1.55 billion shares valued at RM1.39 billion from previous day’s 1.46 billion shares valued at RM1.43 billion.

Warrants turnover surged to 314.12 million units worth RM37.82 million from 146.0 million units worth RM12.09 million Thursday.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 569.85 million shares valued at RM214.62 million against 450.28 million shares worth RM182.04 million previously.