KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today weighed by consumer-related stocks, on weak buying sentiment owing to declining global oil prices.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) settled at 1,628.55, down by 4.89 points, compared with yesterday’s close of 1,633.44.
The index opened at 1,635.03 this morning and fluctuated between 1,628.55 and 1,639.12 throughout the day.
Market tone was extremely negative, with losers outpacing gainers 580 to 325 while 315 counters were unchanged, 520 untraded and 18 others suspended.
Total volume decreased to 1.87 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion from 1.99 billion shares worth RM2.09 billion recorded yesterday.
FXTM Research Analyst Lukman Otunuga said crude oil prices remained fundamentally bearish as concerns around the unrelenting oversupply in the market, which was still at record levels.
“From a technical standpoint, the outlook for West Texas Intermediate crude oil is heavily bearish as there has been consistently lower lows and lower highs.
“A breakdown below US$30 a barrel should encourage a further decline towards US$29 and potentially lower,” he said in a statement.
Among the top losers in the consumer sector were British American Tobacco, which slipped 36 sen to RM55.64. Cocoaland lost 15 sen to RM2.19 and F&N gave up 14 sen to RM18.40.
As for the top three gainers, Panasonic rose 36 sen to RM24.56, CI Holdings added 28 sen to RM2.90 and Kuala Lumpur Kepong gained 26 sen to RM22.86.
For heavyweights, Maybank lost 3.0 sen to RM8.32, TNB was flat at RM13.06 while Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals added 2.0 sen each to RM18.26 and RM7.
As for active counters, Instacom added 1.0 sen to 29 sen, Nexgram eased 0.5 sen to 8.5 sen and Tiger Synergy inched up 0.5 to 9.0 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index declined 29.4 points to 11,419.02, the FBMT100 Index lost 16.14 points to 11,093.6 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 31.47 points lower at 12,365.33.
The FBM 70 decreased 4.71 points to 12,906.84 and the FBM Ace was down 33.58 points to 6,214.81.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index slipped 25.97 points to 3,134.45, the Finance Index shed 37.46 points to 13,691.38 but the Plantation Index rose 19.86 points to 7,532.75. Main Market volume fell to 1.18 billion units worth RM1.6 billion from 1.26 billion units worth RM1.92 billion recorded yesterday.
Turnover on the ACE Market was higher at 395.55 million shares valued at RM100.55 million from 346.31 million shares valued at RM86.95 million recorded on today.
Warrants fell to 293.32 million units worth RM52.57 million from 380.88 million units worth RM83.82 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 172.25 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (295.52 million), construction (58.64 million), trade and services (360.29 million), technology (43.72 million), infrastructure (7.03 million), SPAC (35.81 million), finance (37.42 million), hotels (449,600 million), properties (147.59 million), plantations (23.94 million), mining (1,000), REITs (6.32 million) and closed/fund (10,000). — Bernama
