KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower on a day of choppy trading due to lack of follow-through, with most investors opting to stay on the sidelines ahead of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 summit this weekend.
The key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was lower by 0.57 of-a-point at 1,672.13 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,672.70 after fluctuating between gains and losses.
It swung between 1,670.81 and 1,677.34 throughout the day.
At the opening, the index was down 1.28 points at 1,671.42.
Losers beat gainers 414 to 333 with 450 counters unchanged, 711 untraded and 97 others suspended.
Turnover, however, increased to 2.22 billion units valued at RM1.84 billion from 1.84 billion units valued at RM1.9 billion yesterday.
The US-China trade war continued to be a source of market uncertainty, with investors hoping for substantial progress when the US-China trade talks resume this weekend.
Inter-Pacific Securities head of research Pong Teng Siew said cautious trade continued to dominate the market.
“The FBM KLCI is seen trying to breach the 1,678 level before selling emerged, as investors were unwilling to take risks until the outcome of the US-China trade talks is announced,” he told Bernama.
Locally, he said, most heavyweight index-linked counters in the financial and plantations sectors continued to be weak, affected by slowing loan growth and crude palm oil prices.
“Although the construction sector is doing well, boosted by the resumption of the Light Rail Transit 3, Mass Rapid Transit Line 3, East Coast Rail Link and Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail, it was unable to drive the FBM KLCI up because of its lower weighting,” Pong said.
Among the index draggers, Maxis dropped 23 sen to RM5.57, Public Bank went down 16 sen to RM23.00, and Sime Darby and IOI Corp weakened by four sen each to RM2.26 and RM4.25, respectively.
Axiata, meanwhile, was two sen lower at RM4.98 and MISC weakened five sen to RM7.15.
Among the heavyweight gainers, Tenaga added 16 sen to RM13.84, Petronas Gas advanced 26 sen to RM17.36 and Sime Darby Plantation inched up six sen to RM4.92.
Among the active counters, KNM gained 6.5 sen to 25.5 sen and Sapura Energy was half-a-sen better at 30 sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 8.62 points to 11,781.58, the FBMT 100 Index was down 11.22 points at 11,631.65 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index rose 1.70 points to 12,132.94.
The FBM 70 shed 43.54 points to 14,599.71 while the FBM Ace inched up 3.01 points to 4,445.45.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 22.62 points to 16,686.61, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged higher 0.02 of-a-point to 160.72 while the Plantation Index gained 2.62 points to 6,968.90.
Main Market volume rose to 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion from 1.13 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover slid to 312.28 million units valued at RM68.32 million from 386.05 million units valued at RM79.96 million.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 319.60 million shares worth RM57.76 million from 313.96 million shares worth RM65.22 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 265.12 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (180.97 million), construction (118.28 million), technology (82.74 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.03 million), property (98.45 million), plantation (23.21 million), REITs (19.37 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (617.75 million), healthcare (21.25 million), telecommunications and media (47.75 million), transportation and logistics (43.26 million) and utilities (17.84 million). — Bernama
