Bursa Malaysia succumbs to selling pressure, CI down 1.13 pct

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia succumbed to heavy selling pressure yesterday with the benchmark index falling below the 1,500 psychological level amid fears that the Omicron variant could possibly halt global economic recovery, said an analyst.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 1.13 per cent or 17.05 points to end at 1,496.93 from 1,513.98 at Tuesday’s closing.

The market bellwether opened 6.50 points lower at 1,507.48 and moved between 1,495.75 and 1,509.90 throughout the trading session.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 679 to 293, while 390 counters were unchanged, 915 untraded, and 21 others suspended.

Turnover dwindled to 3.64 billion units worth RM2.74 billion from Tuesday’s 5.67 billion units valued at RM7.97 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local equity market’s performance today was dragged down mainly by banks, telecommunications, and glove counters.

On the other hand, he said key regional markets rebounded following the heavy selldown yesterday after the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signalled that monetary policy could be tightened earlier than expected to fight inflation risks.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the market undertone is jittery as the benchmark index has broken the psychological 1,500 level.

“Nonetheless, the local market valuation remains cheaper compared with regional peers, hence we believe bargain hunting shall prevail.

“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,5001,510 range for the rest of the week. From a technical point of view, we see critical support level at 1,490 and resistance at 1,530,” he told Bernama.

Among the top losers, Top Glove shed 19 sen to RM2.76, Maxis fell 23 sen to RM4.45, and PPB lost 76 sen to RM17.06.

Maybank and Public Bank eased three sen each to RM7.95 and RM3.91 respectively, IHH dropped one sen to RM6.57, CIMB was down 15 sen at RM5.03, Tenaga slid two sen to RM9.22 and Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM8.50.

Of the actives, Kanger and Lambo were flat at 3.5 sen and five sen, respectively, while BCM Alliance slipped one sen to four sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index sank 114.99 points to 110,968.79, the FBMT 100 Index tumbled 104.32 points to 10,665.25, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 150.16 points lower at 11,978.46. The FBM 70 lost 72.63 points to 14,368.99 and the FBM ACE declined 64.32 points to 6,465.62.