KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — Bursa Malaysia finished 0.68 per cent lower today, dragged down by Petronas Chemicals (PChem), amid profit-taking in the second and third liners.
PChem, which contributed 4.46 points to the loss in the composite index, fell 32 sen to close at RM7.92.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shrank 11.41 points to 1,657.53 compared with 1,668.94 yesterday.
The benchmark index opened 1.44 points easier at 1,667.50 today and moved between 1,656.76 and 1,667.79 throughout the day.
Losers trounced gainers by 618 to 226, while 400 counters were unchanged, 612 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Citigroup Investment Research has downgraded PChem yesterday to “sell” from “neutral” with a revised target price of RM7.20 from RM9.00.
The research house noted the de-rating was due to lower return on equity of 11 per cent and weaker earnings uplift from the Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) expansion versus consensus.
It also said that PChem’s monoethylene glycol plant would be a key drag as it will be barely profitable due to massive glut, as well as weak China buying sentiment.
Meanwhile, Maybank IB research analyst Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah told Bernama that profit-taking was actively seen in the second and third liner stocks.
“We can see that the small capital index hit 12,319.91 in May 25 and it now has reached 13,808.89...it went up significantly and now investors are raking in the profits,” he told Bernama.
Among heavyweights Tenaga Nasional and Malaysian Airports both shed 22 sen to RM13.56 and RM8.56 respectively, Maxis was down six sen to RM5.64, while Sime Darby and Digi were five sen easier to RM2.20 and RM4.93 respectively.
As for the actives, market debutant i-Stone was 8.5 sen higher to 24.5 sen, Sumatec Resources added half-a-sen to 3.5 sen, Sapura Energy slid half-a-sen to 30.5 sen and its warrant was flat at 13 sen, while NETX was unchanged at 1.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was down 79.70 points to 11,777.58 and the FBMT 100 Index slipped 78.94 points to 11,601.55, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 109.83 points to 12,148.86.
The FBM Ace declined 31.22 points to 4,669.51 and the FBM 70 shed 97.39 points to 14,853.28.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 23.66 points to 16,591.56, the Plantation Index shed 9.62 points to 6,876.03 and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.64 points to 157.57.
Turnover rose to 3.82 billion units worth RM1.96 billion compared with 3.32 billion units worth RM2.09 billion yesterday.
Main Market volume was slightly higher at 2.59 billion shares worth RM1.71 billion against 2.54 billion shares worth RM1.94 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover declined to 389.17 million units worth RM74.17 million from 399.41 million units worth RM82.62 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market soared to 843.76 million shares worth RM178.39 million from Tuesday’s 380.0 million shares worth RM65.76 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 346.06 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (202.66 million), construction (144.23 million), technology (174.88 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (37.30 million), property (98.99 million), plantation (9.94 million), REITs (16.34 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (1.37 billion), healthcare (15.54 million), telecommunications and media (118.85 million), transportation and logistics (24.32 million) and utilities (24.89 million). — Bernama
