Uncertainty on Fed settings and Brexit puts pincer hold on Bursa Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia remained jittery amid a weaker regional market ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting, with sentiment continuously being hampered by United Kingdom’s possible exit from the European Union.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 3.66 points or 0.23 per cent to 1,626.11, after fluctuating between 1,619.48 and 1,629.69 throughout the day.

In a note today, Kenanga Research said the key index was expected to trade with a downside bias within 1,620-1,650 this week, with resistance capped at 1,640 and 1,650 and support thresholds seen at 1,620 and 1,610.

On the broader market, losers trounced gainers 486 to 278 with 367 counters unchanged, 572 untraded and 15 others suspended.

Volume was slightly lower at 1.47 billion units worth RM1.62 billion from yesterday’s 1.48 billion units worth RM1.21 billion.

Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 1.0 per cent to 15,859.0, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.61 per cent to 20,387.53 and Singapore’s Straits Times eased 0.53 per cent to 2,770.78.

Back home, Maybank led the losses in heavyweights with its shares declining 16 sen to RM8. IOI Corp slipped four sen to RM4.29, MISC and Genting both lost 12 sen to RM7.48 and RM8.04 respectively while CIMB shed four sen to RM4.36.

Among actives, LKL International gained two sen to 31 sen, China Automobile and AirAsia were flat at four sen and RM2.67 respectively while Vivocom slipped 1.5 sen to 25.5 sen and SapuraKencana was five sen lower at RM1.50.

The FBM Emas Index went down 17 points to 11,398.14, the FBMT 100 Index fell 15.40 points to 11,095.81 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was down 5.60 points to 11,965.94.

The FBM 70 rose 16.04 points to 12,975.01 but the FBM Ace was 85.49 points lower at 5,350.95.

The Finance Index declined 59.69 points to 14,042.40, the Plantation Index decreased 12.12 points to 7,546.65 and the Industrial Index decreased 4.26 points at 3,065.80.

Main Market turnover increased to 891.74 million shares worth RM1.50 billion from 883.20 million shares worth RM1.12 billion yesterday.

The ACE Market volume fell to 308.64 million shares worth RM80.02 million from yesterday’s 391.81 million shares worth RM65.35 million.

Warrants increased to 266.79 million shares worth RM34.04 million from 208.03 million shares worth RM28.85 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 56.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (233.27 million), construction (53.82 million), trade and services (333.45 million), technology (50.40 million), infrastructure (6.72 million), SPAC (9.25 million), finance (49.36 million), hotels (696,100), properties (51.51 million), plantations (36.60 million), mining (4,000), REITs (9.71 million) and closed/fund (13,000). — Bernama