KL shares dip 0.17 pct in lacklustre trading

Bursa Malaysia endured another listless trading yesterday, with the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closing 3.27 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 1,870.85.

Elsewhere in the region, markets were also subdued with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng contracting 1.93 per cent to 24,705.36, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index declined 1.09 per cent to 5,140.61 and Singapore’s Straits Times slipped 0.12 per cent to 3,339.10.

A dealer said the investors were awaiting clues on interest rate increases from the US Federal Reserve at its Federal Open Market Committee meeting in the third week of this month.

Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting during the same time would also be closely watched for clues on another possible rate rise, he said.

“Rate rise could knock down bond prices and dampen equity markets,” he said.

On the broader market at Bursa Malaysia, losers outpaced gainers by 424 to 399, with 325 counters unchanged, 464 counters untraded and 19 others suspended.

Total volume fell to 2.18 billion shares worth RM2.01 billion from 2.45 billion shares worth RM2.02 billion yesterday.

On other scoreboards, the FBM Emas Index was 20.02 points lower at 13,056.65, the FBMT100 Index depreciated 19.73 points to 13,056.65 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 11.43 points easier at 13,315.30.

The FBM 70 shed 13.37 points to 14,315.29, however, the FBM Ace soared 50.77 points to 7,178.51, while on a sectorial basis, the Finance Index dipped 37.13 points to 17,520.15, the Industrial Index lost 9.00 points to 3,241.49 and the Plantation Index surged 37.57 points to 8,562.14.

Among actively traded stocks, Iris Corporation went up three sen to 42 sen, GPA Holdings dipped half a sen to 13 sen, Sanichi was flat at 12 sen and Dutaland added 1.5 sen to 61 sen.

KL Kepong led the top gainers, adding 44 sen to RM22.42, while the top loser was British American Tobacco, which fell 98 sen to RM71.54.

The Main Market volume decreased to 1.48 billion units worth RM1.85 billion, from yesterday’s 1.72 billion units worth RM1.87 billion.

Turnover on the ACE Market contracted to 658.34 million shares valued at RM158.33 million, from 705.81 million shares valued at RM137.68 million previously.

Warrants, however surged to 36.99 million units worth RM3.63 million from Tuesday’s 24.82 million units worth RM3.28 million. — Bernama