Bursa Malaysia ends lower on profit-taking

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the week on a lower note on continued profittaking as the benchmark index remained in consolidation mode.

At 5pm,the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 0.22 per cent or 3.54 points to 1,588.08 from Thursday’s close of 1,591.62.

The market bellwether, which opened 0.10 of-a-point higher at 1,591.72, moved between 1,582.22 and 1,591.91 throughout the trading session.

Market breadth was negative with losers beating gainers 597 to 410, while 469 counters were unchanged, 804 untraded, and 15 others suspended.

Turnover fell to 3.07 billion units valued at RM2.18 billion versus 3.85 billion units worth RM3.47 billion on Thursday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI was dragged down mainly by heavyweights in steel, gaming, and banking counters.

“Key regional indices meanwhile are in green following reports by the Chinese media that debt-ridden developer China Evergrande Group is preparing to pay the interest on a bond that was due on Sept 23, 2021 before the grace period ends on Saturday,” he told Bernama.

According to news reports, Evergrande, which has nearly US$20 billion (US$1=RM4.15) in offshore debt, missed coupon payments totalling nearly US$280 million on its dollar bonds on Sept 23, Sept 29, and Oct 11, 2021 beginning 30-day grace periods for each.

Subsequent non-payment would result in formal default and trigger cross-default provisions for its other dollar bonds.

Evergrande Group is the world’s most indebted real estate developer with dues worth over US$300 billion, including bank loans, short-term borrowings, and supplier credit, among others.

The amount is equivalent to two per cent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) and probably one of the biggest debt piles in the world.

Meanwhile, on the local bourse, heavyweights Maybank slid five sen to RM8.15, while Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals, and IHH Healthcare were all flat at RM4.23, RM8.81 and RM6.60 respectively.

Tenaga was up one sen to RM9.76 and CIMB eased 10 sen to RM5.23.

As for actives, Serba Dinamik was down two sen to 35 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 10.5 sen, and Opcom rose 20 sen to RM1.33.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index lost 13.94 points to 11,709.40 and the FBMT 100 Index fell 21.83 points to 11,339.79.

The FBM 70 slipped 16.28 points to 15,376.63, the FBM ACE gave up 28.06 points to 7,170.88, but and the FBM Emas Shariah Index recovered 3.48 points to 12,789.10.