Bursa Malaysia closes below 1,600 benchmark on rising Middle East concern

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Monday, dragged by financial and telecommunication heavyweight counters, resulting in the local bourse slipping below the 1,600point benchmark.

The market’s performance echoed that of other regional indices as tensions in the Middle East continued to be a cause for concern among investors.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 13.62 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 1,597.76 from Friday’s close of 1,611.38.

After opening at 1,611.16, the key index moved between 1,593.08 and 1,611.16 throughout the day.

Volume declined to 3.39 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion compared with 3.57 billion shares worth RM2.35 billion on Friday.

An analyst said tension between Tehran and Washington is expected to escalate in the near future until the next United States’ (US) presidential election.

“This would leave the market in a choppy mode; oil prices might climb high, but there would not be a good outlook for companies with standings in the Middle East,” she said.

On the signing of the “phase one” trade deal between the US and China which is expected to take place on Jan 15, she said that investors remain skeptical about the effectiveness of the deal.

“With the rising tension in the Middle East and the gloomy outlook on the US-China trade deal, the market would remain volatile for the time being until the dust settles,” she said.

On the technical front, she said that the index is expected to hover between the support level of 1,580 and the resistance level of 1,610.

Among heavyweights, Maybank shed 10 sen to RM8.65, Digi contracted 11 sen to RM4.49, IHH declined seven sen to RM5.55, Maxis slid 19 sen to RM5.33 and Petronas Gas fell 28 sen to RM16.88.

Energy-related counters powered the index, led by Sapura Energy which inched up 1.5 sen to 29 sen, followed by Hibiscus Petroleum which gained 5.5 sen to RM1.05 and its warrant which rose 5 sen to 30.5 sen.

As for top losers, Nestle declined 60 sen to RM146.50, F&N shed 28 sen to RM34.30 while PPB and Allianz both shed 18 sen to RM18.78 and RM16.72, respectively.

The FBM Emas Index decreased 88.30 points to 11,387.20 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 107.80 points lower at 11,996.50.

The FBMT 100 Index weakened 86.28 points to 11,180.64, the FBM 70 slid 73.42 points to 14,304.07, while the FBM Ace contracted 1.24 points to 5,424.83.

Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slid 0.73 point to 155.23, the Financial Services Index dipped 58.36 points to 15,627.38 and the Plantation Index weakened 91.21 points to 7,718.99.