KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Bursa Malaysia remained in the red at the close, dragged by industrial products and services as well as consumer products and services sectors as investors took a profit-taking stance following last Tuesday’s gains to a near four-month high.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 4.89 points easier at 1,677.64 compared with Friday’s close of 1,682.53.
The index moved between 1,672.88 and 1,679.65 throughout the day.
Vanguard Markets Pte Ltd managing partner Stephen Innes said there had been a decidedly risk-off feel to Asia equities markets, but the sell-off which started as idiosyncratic and regionally contained in nature.
“After the strong US payrolls report (for June), there are some concerns that Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell could walk down some of the aggressive Fed rate cut, and this too is having a significant impact on the investor psyche,” he said.
At the close, breadth in the broader market was negative, with decliners overtaking advancers 568 to 267, while 381 counters remained unchanged, 631 were untraded and 20 others were suspended.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank shed five sen to RM8.92, Public Bank was two sen lower at RM22.98, Petronas Dagangan trimmed six sen to RM25.54, and Petronas Chemicals eased three sen to RM8.60.
However, Tenaga rose 22 sen to RM13.82.
Of the actives, Ekovest declined 6.5 sen to 80.5 sen, Iskandar Waterfront fell eight sen to RM1.00 and Sumatec Resources eased one sen to 2.5 sen, while KNM Group and Sapura Energy were flat at 31.5 sen and 30 sen, respectively.
Meanwhile, ACE Market debutant, Kim Hin Joo (M) Bhd, declined eight sen to 35 sen at the close, after opening four sen lower from its 43 sen offer price. The Mothercare product retailer saw 35.38 million shares transacted.
The FBM 70 shrank 58.6 points to 14,831.34, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 37 points to 11,704.42 and the FBM Ace declined 78.25 points to 4,582.16.
The FBM Emas Index shed 37.88 points to 11,867.41 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 40.44 points weaker at 12,233.9.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 0.47 of-a-point to 162.05, the Financial Services Index trimmed 41.94 points to 16,756.66 and the Plantation Index dropped 31.96 points to 6,945.17.
Total transaction volume was lower at 2.12 billion units worth RM1.68 billion compared with 2.57 billion units worth RM1.82 billion on Friday.
Main Market volume narrowed to 1.37 billion shares worth RM1.5 billion from 1.69 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion previously.
Warrants turnover rose to 431.59 million units valued of RM98.02 million versus 372.91 million units valued of RM80.95 million on Friday.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 313.91 million shares worth RM75.61 million compared to 510.87 million shares worth RM111.19 million on the previous trading day.
Consumer products and services accounted for 231.93 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (149.17 million), construction (230.5 million), technology (93.25 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (35.28 million), property (165.07 million), plantation (8.42 million), REITs (15.98 million), closed/fund (3,100), energy (318.67 million), healthcare (18.65 million), telecommunications and media (61.98 million), transportation and logistics (33.18 million) and utilities (15.16 million). — Bernama
