Bursa Malaysia ends lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower as profit-taking persisted in most heavyweights led by Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals.

Maybank lost six sen to RM8.90, Public Bank slid four sen to RM4.63 and Petronas Chemicals shed 20 sen to RM9.58.

At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 14.53 points or 0.90 per cent to 1,583.42 from 1,597.95 at Monday’s close.

The key index opened 0.02 of-a-point lower at 1,597.93 and fluctuated between 1,579.27 and 1,598.21 throughout the trading session.

On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 430 to 348, while 555 counters were unchanged, 967 untraded, and 35 others suspended.

Total turnover increased to 2.63 billion units worth RM1.98 billion from 2.41 billion units worth RM1.89 billion on Monday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vicepresident of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local equities closed broadly lower as investors continued to take profit particularly in banking and plantation stocks.

He said the key regional indices were mostly higher riding on the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight with buying interest centred mainly on technology and financial stocks.

“On the domestic front, we believe the benchmark index will stay in consolidation mode on cautious sentiment although foreign buying and bargainhunting activities may emerge as well.

“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to remain in a range-bound mode at around 1,575-1,590 for the remainder of the week, with immediate support at 1,580 and resistance at 1,600,” he told Bernama.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1.12 per cent to 21,927.63, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.10 per cent to 28,252.42, and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.42 per cent to 2,741.07, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.20 per cent to 3,425.

Among other heavyweights, IHH Healthcare slipped 15 sen to RM6.25, CIMB dipped one sen to RM5.32, Tenaga Nasional dropped 10 sen to RM9.21, Hong Leong Bank shed eight sen to RM20.16, while Press Metal gained 11 sen to RM6.20.

Of the actives, Sapura Energy and CSH Alliance added half-a-sen each to four sen and 15 sen, respectively, BSL Corp lost 1.5 sen to 17 sen, while SMTrack and Pasukhas eased halfa-sen each to eight sen and two sen, respectively.

On other developments, Axiata Group Bhd fell five sen to RM3.75 following news involving its wholly-owned unit, Celcom Axiata Bhd and the latter’s 100 per centowned unit, Celcom Mobile Sdn Bhd.

The High Court (commercial division) yesterday reportedly granted an injunction preventing Celcom Mobile’s 5.25 million shares in Tune Talk Sdn Bhd from being included in the sale of Celcom Axiata to Digi.Com Bhd, under the proposed merger of the two telecommunication companies’ businesses.