Bursa Malaysia ends lower for 6th straight session

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower for the sixth consecutive session yesterday, in tandem with most markets in Southeast Asia (SEA), on the back of mild sell-off as investors rebalance their portfolio for cheap stocks outside the region.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) fell 10.68 points to finish at its intraday low of 1,652.63 after hitting a high of 1,665.69 in the morning session.

The overall market breadth was negative with losers trouncing gainers 549 to 253, while 331 counters were unchanged, 772 untraded and 36 others suspended.

In a relatively thin trading market, volume shrank to 1.43 billion units worth RM1.51 billion from 2.65 billion units valued at RM1.37 billion recorded on Monday.

Inter- Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew said investors in SEA and Japan were readjusting their portfolio across the region, looking for cheap stocks such as technology stocks in China.

“This is quite an unusual pattern in trading. I think this short portfolio adjustment is just temporary and nothing to be wary of,” he told Bernama.

Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.34 per cent to 21,148.02, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.43 per cent to 3,059.28 and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.57 per cent to 6,076.59.

Among heavyweights, Maybank edged down three sen to RM9.34, Public Bank dipped 20 sen to RM24.50, Tenaga slipped two sen to RM13.54, Petronas Chemicals inched down one sen to RM9.18, while CIMB shed 14 sen to RM5.51.

Of actives, Bumi Armada added half-a-sen to 16 sen, Hubline was flat at four sen, while MyEG and Prestariang eased four sen and 1.5 sen to RM1.01 and 29 sen respectively.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 62.22 points weaker at 11,399.53, the FBM Ace Index fell 50.18 points to 4,546.22, and the FBM 70 erased 102.14 points to 13,217.69.

The FBM Emas Index slid 78.83 points to 11,384.67 and the FBMT 100 Index slipped 76.15 points to 11,273.3.

Sector- wise, the Plantation Index lost 49.71 points to 6,632.52, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.87 of-apoint to 167.43 and the Financial Services Index decreased 137.35 points to 17,138.56.

Main Market volume dwindled to 980.18 million shares worth RM1.41 billion from 2.12 billion shares valued at RM1.26 billion on Monday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 286.99 million units worth RM68.08 million from 345.03 million units valued at RM81.35 million.

Volume on the ACE Market declined to 161.23 million shares worth RM27.08 million compared with 187.23 million shares valued at RM31.29 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 147.56 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services ( 143.63 billion), construction ( 58.86 million), technology ( 160.83 million), SPAC (70,000), financial services (32.67 million), property (74.17 million), plantations (25.29 million), REITs (5.46 million), closed/ fund ( 30,000), energy (190.03 million), healthcare (36.81 million), telecommunication and media ( 24.32 million), transportation and logistics (61.04 million), and utilities (19.41 million).

For further information on stocks and prices, please visit www.bursamalaysia.com.