Lower in lacklustre trading

SHARES on Bursa Malaysia closed lower in lacklustre trading, weighed by losses in finance counters.

The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 8.42 points to end at 1,784.06 after hovering between 1,783.15 and 1,791.18 throughout the day.

Of finance-related counters, Maybank fell 12 sen to RM9.85 while CIMB slipped 11 sen to RM7.79. Both stocks constituted 3.396 points of the key index.

Hong Leong Bank dropped 24 sen to RM14.12, RHB Capital eased 14 sen to RM7.84 and Public Bank trimmed 10 sen to RM17.78.

Affin Investment Bank vice-president/head of retail research Dr Nazri Khan said investors were mindful of the current concerns over the US Federal Reserve’s deferment of its bond-buying programme and the deadline for the US debt ceiling.

“I don’t think this is the start of a serious selldown. I believe this is a temporary correction. The market will see an uptrend after the US government solves its debt ceiling issue by mid-October,” he told Bernama.

The US government will reach its debt limit by midOctober. The country’s borrowing limit is currently capped at US$16.7tril.

Losers led gainers 420 to 359, with 276 counters unchanged, 528 untraded and 13 others were suspended.

Turnover rose to 2.21 billion shares, worth RM2.05bil, from 1.92 billion shares, worth RM1.85bil, recorded on Tuesday. – Bernama