KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 ― Bursa Malaysia ended slightly lower today, with the benchmark index easing 0.06 per cent on mild profit-taking in selected blue chips including Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 0.98 of-a-point to 1,637.40 from Friday’s close of 1,638.38.
After opening 1.08 points lower at 1,637.30, the index moved between 1,631.83 and 1,637.49 throughout the session.
On the broader market, losers overwhelmed gainers 623 to 255, while 341 counters were unchanged, 693 untraded and 60 others suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.53 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion.
However, the losses were capped by news report which quoted an analyst as saying he expected a fund flow reversal in Malaysia’s equities market as early as the third quarter of this year.
Rakuten Trade head of research Kenny Yee in a media briefing today said this expectation was underpinned by a weaker ringgit, revival of mega projects and improvement in crude palm oil prices.
He said the weaker ringgit would make the local equities market more appealing to foreign investors, while the revival of infrastructure projects such as East Coast Rail Link and Bandar Malaysia would attract more interest in the construction sector.
“There will be no more major outflow expected in the equities market this year after experiencing over RM11 billion outflow last year and RM2.6 billion outflow as of to-date this year,” Yee was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research in a note said stocks on Bursa Malaysia may continue to stay neutral without any strong catalyst in the market as most of the construction related news flows may have been priced in during the recent technical rebound.
“With the sudden slump in crude oil prices last week, we may anticipate oil and gas stocks to take a beating this week,” it said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank remained flat at RM9.14, Public Bank fell eight sen to RM22.56, Petronas Chemicals slid 10 sen to RM9.00, while TNB rose six sen to RM12.20.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Bumi Armada rose half-a-sen to 23.5 sen, Sumatec eased half-a-sen to one sen, Seacera erased seven sen to 24.5 sen and Ekovest declined five sen to 89.5 sen.
Among the gainers were Yee Lee Corporation which added 39 sen to RM2.33, followed by PLB Engineering which increased 24 sen to RM1.42 while Sunsuria gained 10 sen to 73.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was 33.15 points lower at 11,632.66, the FBMT 100 decreased 30.10 points to 11,447.02 and the FBM 70 was down 132.19 points to 14,598.54.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 59.21 points weaker at 11,826.71 and the FBM Ace Index fell 124.75 points to 4,669.09.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index went up 5.91 points to 16,887.37, the Plantation Index slid 24.43 points to 7,274.04 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.93 points to 170.08.
Main Market volume shrank to 1.85 billion shares valued at RM1.49 billion against 2.20 billion shares valued at RM1.94 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover increased to 386.87 million units worth RM95.53 million from 354.91 million units worth RM70.76 million.
Volume on the ACE Market dwindled to 284.84 million shares valued at RM47.45 million versus 286.34 million shares valued at RM48.79 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 196.37 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (364.49 million), construction (289.54 million), technology (88.40 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (37.71 million), property (153.44 million), plantation (43.09 million), REITs (3.82 million), closed/fund (31,000), energy (545.36 million), healthcare (31.91 million), telecommunications and media (53.30 million), transportation and logistics (17.96 million) and utilities (29.49 million). ― Bernama
