Bursa Malaysia ends Boxing Day in cautious trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower yesterday in cautious trading as uncertainty in the United States continued to fuel investors’ anxiety.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI ( FBM KLCI) finished 11.22 points or 0.67 per cent weaker at 1,672.60 from Monday’s close of 1,683.82.

The local market was closed on Tuesday for the Christmas holiday.

The barometer index moved between 1,660.80 and 1,674.85 throughout the day, after opening 15.13 points lower at 1,668.69.

Market breadth was negative with 567 losers against 208 gainers, 318 counters were unchanged, 792 untraded and 35 others were suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.41 billion shares worth RM966.80 million.

A dealer said the partial US government shutdown and news that US President Donald Trump’s discussion to dismiss Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dented global risk appetite and Bursa Malaysia was also not spared.

“The downtrend on the local stock market was in line with most of its Asian peers, whereby Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 1.31 per cent lower at 3,011.15, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was 0.40 per cent easier at 25,651.38 and South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index was 1.31 per cent weaker at 2,028.01,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Public Bank shed two sen to RM24.76, Tenaga trimmed 46 sen to RM13.54, Petronas Chemicals retreated four sen to RM9.19 but Maybank improved nine sen to RM9.35 and CIMB was four sen better at RM5.72.

Of actives, Sapura Energy eased 2.5 sen to 29 sen, Bumi Armada eased half-a -sen to 1.5 sen while MyEG perked 5.5 sen to 93 sen, Prestariang ticked up 3.5 sen to 40.5 sen while Hubline was unchanged at four sen.

United Plantations led the top losers list by declining 80 sen to RM25.00, Nestle trimmed 50 sen to RM145.50, Petronas Gas slipped 40 sen to RM18.78, BAT reduced 34 sen to RM35.56 and Petronas Dagangan was 30 sen lower at RM26.20.

The FBM Emas Index fell 77.95 points to 11,380.30, the FBMT 100 Index weakened 76.05 points to 11,299.12 and the FBM 70 lost 87.39 points to 12,814.52.

The FBM Ace Index was 52.10 points easier at 4,174.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slumped 135.35 points to 11,324.03.

Sector- wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.27 points to 164.52, the Plantation Index went down 26.57 points to 6,754.66 while the Finance Index advanced 52.85 points to 17,20.93.

Main Market volume rose to 1.10 billion shares, worth RM922.04 million, from 901.4 million units, worth RM806.57 million, recorded on Monday.

Warrants turnover decreased to 171.23 million units, valued at RM25.44 million, from Monday’s 232.65 million units valued at RM49.41 million.

Volume on the ACE Market widened to 139.32 million shares, worth RM19.09 million, from 130.04 million shares, valued at RM19.54 million.

Consumer products and services accounted for 132.07 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services ( 202.97 million), construction ( 45.40 million), technology ( 186.32 million), SPAC ( 7.48 million) financial services (16.29 million), property (65.61 million), plantations (18.95 million), REITs (5.81 million), closed/ fund ( 62,100), energy (295.63 million), healthcare (18.56 million), telecommunications and media ( 19.27 million), transportation and logistics (77.04 million), and utilities (9.57 million).

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