Selling in bluechips drags Bursa lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia reversed Wednesday’s gains to close lower yesterday, dragged down by selling in selected bluechips led by Genting.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) fell 5.06 points to 1,658.5, after fluctuating between 1,652.84 and 1,659.55 throughout the day.

Marketbreadthwasweakerwith 467 losers and 300 gainers, while 350 counters were unchanged, 604 untraded and 72 others suspended.

Volume expanded to 2.22 billion units valued at RM1.85 billion from 1.75 billion units valued at RM1.71 billion recorded on Wednesday.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said the companies’ performance on the bourse was affected by the announcement by rating agencies, which downgraded Malaysia’s national oil company, Petroliam Nasional Bhd, as well as listed airport operator, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).

Petronas- related stocks, Petronas Dagangan lost six sen to RM5.15 while Petronas Chemicals and Petronas Gas were unchanged at RM6.60 and RM22.20, respectively. MAHB edged down five sen to RM5.85.

Pong also said sentiment in the local bourse was also clouded by the recent development in Genting’s casino business in Florida, United States, whereby the company had received a lawsuit filing by Miami Beach.

“Genting is a major component (in the composite index) and the recent news has caused its share price to drop sharply.

This also sends a signal to the market to be cautious,” he told Bernama.

Pong anticipated the market to recover next week as European funds were expected to flow in.

“There are a lot of funds flowing into the emerging markets in the previous week, particularly European funds,” he added.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 31.14 points to 11,618.98, the FBMT100 Index shed 27.90 points to 11,316.1, the FBM 70 eased 8.32 points to 13,232.14.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 6.98 points lower at 12,236.52 and the FBM Ace dipped 9.37 points to 5,452.34.

Sector-wise, the Finance Index lost 23.10 points to 14,217.43, the Industrial Index was down 15.45 points to 3,111.00 but the Plantation Index gained 8.13 points to 7,586.97.

Of the heavyweights, Public Bank eased four sen to RM19.56, IHH Healthcare slipped three sen to RM6.59, but TNB rose two sen to RM14.32 and Maybank added one sen to RM8.04.

Among actives, TH Heavy fell two sen to 20 sen, but Naim Indah gained 1.5 sen to 10 sen.

MainMarketturnoverexpanded to 1.78 billion shares worth RM1.77 billion from 1.27 billion shares worth RM1.62 billion recorded on Wednesday.

The ACE Market volume increased to 312.27 million units valued at RM52.54 million from yesterday’s 306.77 million units valued at RM59.68 million. — Bernama