KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — Bursa Malaysia snapped a four-day rally to end lower today as investors took a long holiday break in conjunction with the Chinese New Year.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) decreased 5.86 points to end at 1,686.36 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,692.22.
After opening 0.02 of-a-point better at 1,695.64, the index moved between 1,684.97 and 1,695.72 throughout the day amid weak participation.
Gainers led losers 367 to 244, with 340 counters unchanged, 775 untraded and 57 others suspended.
Volume fell to 1.05 billion shares worth RM1.20 billion from 1.41 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion.
Most regional equities registered modest gains following record closing highs on Wall Street.
The local bourse was in range-bound trade throughout the trading session today with investors mostly away for the Lunar New Year.
“Buying interest was weak ahead of the extended weekend, while mild profit-taking activities emerged after earlier gains,” said a dealer.
He also said sentiment was still subdued on account of the lack of clarity over US President Donald Trump’s economic plans and his protectionist approach to trade.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.22 per cent to 19,445.09, China’s Shanghai Composite improved 0.31 per cent to 3,159.17 and Singapore’s Straits Times rose 0.43 per cent to 3,064.85.
The FBM Emas Index declined 22.68 points to 11,828.66, the FBMT 100 Index eased 26.38 points to 11,532.38 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 6.22 points lower at 12,320.58.
The FBM 70 bagged 21.06 points to 13,584.80 and the FBM Ace Index fell 0.67 of-a-point to 4,939.77.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Index was 38.36 points better at 3,254.02, but the Finance Index declined 51.60 points to 14,883.78, and the Plantation Index lost 7.35 points to 7,952.90.
Among heavyweights, Maybank shed seven sen to RM8.25, Public Bank slid six sen to RM20.22, Tenaga gave up eight sen to RM13.60 and Petronas Chemicals eased one sen to RM7.13. But, Sime Darby garnered 41 sen to RM9.23.
As for losers, PPB Group dropped 34 sen to RM16.06, KLK lost 30 sen to RM24.04, Hong Leong Financial eased 28 sen to RM14.82, United Plantations gave up 16 sen to RM26.84 and Axiata declined 15 sen to RM4.84.
Bursa Malaysia closed at half day trading today ahead of the Chinese New Year and Federal Territory Day holidays and will resume next Tuesday.
Main Market turnover fell to 782.55 million units worth RM1.17 billion from Thursday’s 915.03 million units worth RM1.69 billion.
The ACE Market declined to 123.40 million shares valued at RM20.35 million from 230.88 million shares valued at RM35.96 million.
Warrants decreased to 146.46 million units worth RM15.83 million from 259.29 million units worth RM27.94 million.
Consumer products accounted for 261.24 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (138.57 million), construction (24.13 million), trade and services (189.52 million), technology (43.44 million), infrastructure (4.18 million), SPAC (150,500), finance (44.28 million), hotels (14,400), properties (35.45 million), plantations (24.88 million), mining (0), REITs (16.69 million) and closed/fund (5100). — Bernama
