KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Bursa Malaysia closed at its intraday low on weak sentiment and taking cue from overnight losses in the global market.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished 0.52 per cent or 8.6 points lower to close at 1,648.93, compared with 1,657.53 yesterday.
PChem contributed 4.18 points to the loss in the composite index.
The benchmark index opened 0.27 of-a-point higher at 1,657.80 earlier today and moved between 1,648.93 and 1,659.94 throughout the day.
Losers trounced gainers by 575 to 270, while 388 counters were unchanged, 658 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said despite the slide in the market, there is hope of a rebound but it would be on selective counters.
“Perhaps, oil and gas counters due to slew of contract awards, construction due to resumption of projects, and automotive backed by good total industry volume out-turn, while the ringgit appreciation would definitely be a boon for automotive,” he told Bernama.
He also noted that the local market had seen some improvement in foreign fund inflow and this is premised on the expected interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve.
“Whether the cut would be once or twice, it may have an impact on fund flows and subsequently on the underlying instruments such as equities and bonds,” he said.
Among heavyweights, PChem lost 30 sen to RM7.62, Maxis dipped three sen to RM5.61, Tenaga Nasional was down 14 sen to RM13.42, Sime Darby Plantation gave up 11 sen to RM4.70, and Public Bank eased 10 sen to RM22.86.
As for the actives, Green Packet added four sen to 44.5 sen, its warrant added half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, Impiana Hotel perked up half-a-sen to three sen, KNM shed four sen to 35 sen while its warrant was down 2.5 sen to 26.5 sen, and I-Stone eased 3.5 sen to 21 sen.
The FBM Emas Index was down 61.33 points to 11,716.25 and the FBMT 100 Index slipped 57.64 points to 11,543.91, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index dipped 83.20 points to 12,065.66.
The FBM Ace rose 9.44 points to 4,678.95 and the FBM 70 slid 63.29 points to 14,789.99.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 38.89 points lower at 16,552.67, the Plantation Index dropped 55.91 points to 6,821.12 and the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 2.24 points to 155.33.
Turnover shrank to 2.83 billion units worth RM1.84 billion from 3.82 billion units worth RM1.96 billion on Wednesday.
Main Market volume was lower at 1.91 billion shares worth RM1.66 billion compared with yesterday’s 2.59 billion shares worth RM1.71 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover declined slightly to 380.21 million units worth RM73.05 million from 389.17 million units worth RM74.17 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market tumbled to 545.44 million shares worth RM97.35 million from 843.76 million shares worth RM178.39 million on Wednesday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 326.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (208.25 million), construction (129.90 million), technology (125.69 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (35.49 million), property (69.20 million), plantation (7.83 million), REITs (14.02 million), closed/fund (3,000), energy (686.0 million), healthcare (18.53 million), telecommunications and media (231.10 million), transportation and logistics (26.98 million), and utilities (27.85 million). — Bernama
