KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower for two consecutive days today amid selling in key heavyweights on risk aversion due to external factors.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) went down 2.48 points to 1,639.46 from 1,641.94 yesterday, following losses in PetChem, Axiata, Malaysia Airports and Maybank.
The index, which opened 0.11 of-a-point lower at 1,641.83, fluctuated between 1,635.89 and 1,642.13 throughout today’s session.
However, market breadth was positive as gainers outpaced losers by 441 to 371, while 417 counters remained unchanged, 640 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Volume fell to 3.34 billion units worth RM2.36 billion from 3.47 billion units worth RM2.37 billion recorded yesterday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said regional markets were also mostly lower today.
“External factors continued to dominate market sentiments. The latest salvo from US President Donald Trump against Europe in the form of tariff on US$11 billion of imports suggests trade war has yet to be resolved.
“This happens despite constructive discussions between the US and China recently,” he told Bernama.
Additionally, the downward revision in global growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also spooked the markets.
The IMF has trimmed global gross domestic product growth in 2019 to 3.3 per cent from previous forecast of 3.5 per cent projected in January this year.
“The ongoing trade friction is obviously the main key risks factors alongside the uncertain fate on Brexit negotiation.
“As such, expect risk aversion to be prevalent in the immediate term,” Mohd Afzanizam added.
Among the heavyweights, PetChem lost 10 sen to RM9.00, Axiata was down four sen to RM4.15, Malaysia Airports slipped 19 sen to RM6.75 and Maybank eased two sen to RM9.28.
Public Bank rose six sen to RM22.64 and IHH Healthcare added four sen to RM5.60.
Among actives, construction companies, Ekovest went up nine sen to 64.5 sen and Iskandar Waterfront rose 15.5 sen to RM1.01 on possible revival of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail project after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday said Malaysia was exploring proposals to reduce the project cost.
Meanwhile, Sapura Energy was unchanged at 34 sen and Karex gained six sen to 53 sen.
The FBM Emas Index declined 5.01 points to 11,635.04, the FBMT 100 was 13.39 points lower at 11,457.14 and the FBM 70 shed 1.31 points to 14,594.21.
Meanwhile, the FBM Emas Shariah Index inched up 0.21 of-a-point to 11,861.09 and the FBM Ace Index rose 20.79 points to 4,802.02.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index declined 0.37 of-a-point to 169.96, the Plantation Index improved 10.66 points to 7,297.00, while the Financial Services Index perked up 12.82 points to 16,860.09.
Main Market volume decreased to 2.55 billion shares worth RM2.18 billion from 2.65 billion shares worth RM2.20 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover went down to 444.8 million units valued at RM97.7 million compared with 467.8 million units valued at RM99.5 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market dropped to 344 million shares worth RM82.3 million versus 348 million shares worth RM66.3 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 327.4 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (400.3 million), construction (567.9 million), technology (251.6 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.2 million), property (330 million), plantation (69 million), REITs (12.5 million), closed/fund (122,800), energy (423.1 million), healthcare (22.9 million), telecommunications and media (31 million), transportation and logistics (30.7 million), and utilities (40.1 million). — Bernama
