Bursa Malaysia ends lower in sync with regional markets

KUALALUMPUR: Bursa-Malaysia finished trading broadly lower yesterday in sync with regional markets with selling mainly on utilities and technology stocks, a dealer said.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dipped 17.45 points or 1.09 per cent, to end at 1,582.98 compared with Friday’s close at 1,600.43.

The barometer index opened 13.91 points higher at 1,614.34 and moved between 1,576.84 and 1,615.17 throughout the day.

On the broader market, losers surpassed gainers 628 to 380 with 421 counters unchanged, 809 untraded, and 16 others suspended.

Total turnover decreased to 2.68 billion units worth RM2.38 billion from 2.81 billion units worth RM2.07 billion on Friday.

Regionally, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said, key indices trended lower despite the positive cue on Wall Street overnight as investors took the opportunity to take profit.

“Meanwhile, China equities were in positive territory as they returned to trade following the holiday break,” he told Bernama.

Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.16 per cent to 3,344.04, South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.11 per cent to 2,677.57, Japan’s Nikkei was 0.11 per cent weaker at 26,818.53 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index narrowed 0.36 per cent to 20,793.40.

Thong said the FBM KLCI opened higher with buying mainly on plantation and gaming stocks, however, profittaking activities emerged when the benchmark index reached its intraday high of 1,615.17 and continued its downtrend till the market closed.

“With the strong resistance at the 1,600 level, we expect the FBM KLCI to stay in consolidation mode for the time being.

“Hence, we anticipate the index to trend within a tight range of between 1,580 and 1,590 towards the weekend,” he said.

On the local bourse, heavyweights Maybank slid eight sen to RM8.99, Public Bank fell six sen to RM4.63, IHH Healthcare slipped one sen to RM6.60, CIMB lost nine sen to RM5.11 while Petronas Chemicals rose eight sen to RM10.30.

Of the actives, both PUC Bhd and Ta Win Holdings eased 1.5 sen to six sen and 13.5 sen respectively, MN Holdings erased 2.5 sen to 22 sen, while Permaju Industries stood at 9.5 sen and Sedania Innovator gained 11 sen to 47 sen.

On the index board, FBM 70 decreased 148.62 points to 13,623.56, FBM Emas Index dropped 116.31 points to 11,349.77, FBMT 100 Index reduced 120.99 points to 10,999.51, FBM Emas Shariah Index slumped 122.28 points to 11,900 and FBM ACE slid 4.11 points to 5,574.56. — Bernama