KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Bursa Malaysia, which closed in the red today, ended the week on a subdued note on the back of volatility in the Chinese yuan, falling oil prices and softer ringgit, dealers said. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 24.80 points to close at 1,596.82, after fluctuating between 1,590.57 and 1,626.90 throughout the day. A dealer said China’s devaluation of the yuan continued to impact regional markets as well as currencies.
He said coupled with the fall in commodity prices, the local bourse failed to defend its crucial psychological level of 1,600 points, prompting it to slide further.
Among regional peers, Japan’s Nikkei 225 eased 0.37 per cent to 20,519.45, Hang Seng slipped 0.12 per cent to 23,991.03 but the Jakarta Composite gained 0.07 per cent to 4,587.48.
Losers trounced gainers by 782 to 148 while 249 counters were unchanged, 621 untraded and 12 others suspended.
Total volume rose to 2.01 billion units valued at RM2.20 billion from 1.86 billion units valued at RM2.21 billion yesterday. On the local scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index dropped 164.22 points to 10,965.92, FBMT100 Index decreased 158.77 points to 10,693.43 and the FBM Syariah slipped 166.90 points to 11,385.35.
The FBM 70 went down 147.78 points to 11,773.27 and the FBM Ace fell 169.78 points to 5,454.38.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index tumbled 266.37 points to 14,282.82, the Industrial Index slipped 33.21 points to 3,077.68 and the Plantation Index declined 68.75 points to 6,993.99 — MORE Among actives, SapuraKencana Petroleum lost 16 sen to RM1.93, Tiger Synergy eased half-a-sen to 9.5 sen, Frontken slid one sen to 20.5 sen and Maybank slipped 31 sen to RM8.29.
Ingenuity added half-a-sen to seven sen.
Of the heavyweights, Public Bank and Axiata fell 10 sen each to RM18.20 and RM5.81, respectively, TNB went down 28 sen to RM10.58 and Sime Darby slid four sen to RM8.03.
Main Market volume fell to 1.09 billion units worth RM1.99 billion against yesterday's 1.13 million units worth RM2.05 billion. Turnover on the ACE Market increased to 338.60 million shares valued at RM66.91 million from 301.81 million shares valued at RM73.42 million previously. Warrants improved to 583.25 million units worth RM140.97 million from 426.58 million units worth RM91.14 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 71.6 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (188.56 million), construction (58.81 million), trade and services (443.62 million), technology (52.61 million), infrastructure (21.91 million), SPAC (26.74 million), finance (83.65 million), hotels (918,000), properties (101.42 million), plantations (20.15 million), mining (46,000), REITs (15.75 million), and closed/fund (53,500). — Bernama
