KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on selling of finance counters, dealers said.
At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 16.15 points to 1,736.62 after moving between 1,734.51 and 1,759.15 through the day.
A dealer said banking stocks stole the focus in in light of Bank Negara Malaysia implementing the new base rate (BR) mechanism from Friday.
“The new mechanism will raise competition among banks,” he added.
The effective lending rate is based on the BR, which is the benchmark funding cost for banks as well as a spread, which comprise a liquidity premium, credit risk, overheads, statutory reserve requirements and a profit margin.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index lost 114.21 points to 11,921.64, the FBMT100 Index 111.32 points to 11,665.26, the FBM Emas Syariah Index 67.77 points to 12,396.99 and the FBM 70 135.021 points to 12,972.05. The FBM Ace rose 73.09 points to 5,783.17.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index fell 187.921 points to 15,474.02, the Plantation Index contracted 59.15 points to 7,751.8, and the Industrial Index eased 9.26 points to 3,147.48.
Losers thumped gainers 502 to 271 while 257 counters were unchanged, 709 untraded and nine suspended.
Total volume rose to 1.46 billion units worth RM1.41 billion from 1.07 billion units worth RM921.63 million last Friday.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost 12 sen to RM9, Public Bank fell 40 sen to RM17.82 and Axiata eased 2 sen to RM7. TNB added 4 sen to RM13.84 and Sime Darby gained 8 sen to RM9.15.
Among actives, Minetech lost 1.5 sen to 11 sen, Malayan United Industries slipped 1 sen to 31 sen and AirAsia fell 13 sen to RM2.62. Iris added 6 sen to 32.5 sen while Hubline was flat at 4 sen.
Main Market volume rose to 1.06 billion shares worth RM1.28 billion from last Friday’s 807.99 million shares worth RM857.71 million.
Turnover on the ACE Market expanded to 248.49 million shares valued at RM57.3 million against 158.66 million shares valued at RM33.14 million previously.
Warrants increased to 152.49 million units worth RM68.53 million versus 108 million units worth RM30.29 million on Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 66.04 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products 282.42 million, construction 42.86 million, trade and services 467.24 million, technology 18.71 million, infrastructure 13.35 million, SPAC 13.38 million, finance 41.57 million, hotels 6.2 million, properties 93.16 million, plantations 12.58 million, mining 15,000, REITs 7.2 million, and closed/fund 117,800. — Bernama
