KL shares end almost flat amid regional weakness

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares on Bursa Malaysia ended almost flat yesterday after rangebound trade as sentiment was dampened by weakness in regional markets, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) closed 0.68 point lower at 1,818.42, after moving between 1,815.141 and 1,820.52 throughout the day.

A dealer said regional bourses were mostly down yesterday as traders turned cautious following escalating tensions in the Middle East and losses on Wall Street.

“The overnight fall on Wall Street was sparked by the unexpected dip in durable goods orders, suggesting a slowdown in US economic growth,” he said.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index rose 12.69 points to 12,482.28, the FBMT100 Index increased 6.33 points to 12,171.44 and the FBM Ace climbed 2.6 points to 6,973.75.

The FBM Emas Syariah Index went up 6.36 points to 13,065.34 and the FBM 70 jumped 49.06 points to 13,368.89.

On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index was up 1.44 points to 3,348.28 and the Finance Index improved 19.76 points to 16,100.75 while the Plantation Index contracted 21.34 points to 7,786.49.

Gainers edged losers 426 to 397 with 343 counters unchanged, 619 untraded and 20 others suspended.

Total volume rose to 2.43 billion units worth RM1.95 billion from 2.03 billion units worth RM2.12 billion on Wednesday.

Among heavyweights, Maybank, Axiata and Sime Darby added one sen each to RM9.22, RM7.07 and RM9.27 respectively and Public Bank gained four sen to RM18.60. TNB lost four sen to RM14.46. Of the actively-traded stocks, Sumatec added one sen to 23 sen and Perisai Petroleum gained 4.5 sen to 58.5 sen.

Asia Bioenergy slipped half-asen to 10.5 sen and Privasia and Genetec lost one sen each to 36.5 sen and 21.5 sen respectively.

Main Market volume increased to 1.44 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion from 1.1 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion on Wednesday.

Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 825.38 million shares valued at RM182.24 million from 833.67 million shares valued at RM188.56 million yesterday.

Warrants expanded to 175.13 million units worth RM27.84 million from 103.96 million units worth RM19.64 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 161 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products ( 203.43 million), construction (50.2 million), trade and services ( 748.97 million), technology ( 88.36 million), infrastructure ( 12.88 million), SPAC ( 31.98 million), finance (43.8 million), hotels (2.74 million), properties (73.98 million), plantations (12.29 million), mining (5,000), REITs (11.18 million) and closed/fund (4,000). — Bernama