KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — Profit-taking dragged Bursa Malaysia to finish in the red today, while shares were mixed on the broader market, tracking positive development in the US-China trade war.
At mid-week close, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) erased 3.26 points or 0.2 per cent to 1,652.41 against Tuesday’s 1,655.67.
The benchmark index opened 1.79 points lower at 1,653.88 and moved between 1,651.36 and 1,659.38.
Gainers led losers 444 to 431, while 434 counters were unchanged, 611 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 3.22 billion units worth RM2.29 billion versus 2.77 billion units worth RM2.01 billion yesterday.
Philip Capital Management senior vice-president (investment) Datuk Nazri Khan Adam Khan said while the FBM KLCI was under pressure below the 200-day moving average resistance line, the ongoing rising momentum on Bursa Malaysia is set to extend.
“This shows a resilient attitude by the bulls against the bears in the process to lead the index higher. As long as the meaningful 1,600-point support is not taken out, we believe that the bullish bias we saw since the middle of May is still in play,” he said.
Nazri said the index would be tracking Wall Street earnings such as that of Facebook, Tesla, Boeing, Google, Amazon, and Intel this week.
In near term, sentiment should be more towards buying dips as investors await the widely anticipated US and European Central Bank’s rate cut to give a proper direction in the longer term.
“Regardless of the temporary weakening movement in the global market, we see this as an opportunity for bargain-hunter to front-run for a potential benign Fed monetary adjustment,” Nazri said.
Meanwhile, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the June 2019 consumer price index data, which shot up to 1.5 per cent from 0.2 per cent, suggested that household’s purchasing was reducing.
“The sharp rise in inflation rate was due to lower base in June 2018 following the zero rating of the Goods and Services Tax from June to August 2018,” he said.
Among heavyweights, Maybank fell six sen to RM8.76, Public Bank lost 10 sen to RM22.70, Tenaga declined eight sen to RM13.74, while Axiata rose two sen to RM5.15.
As for the actives, KNM added 4.5 sen to 41 sen, Priceworth International slipped half-a-sen to 6.5 sen and Netx was flat at 1.5 sen.
The FBM Emas Index erased 19.11 points to 11,756.54, the FBMT 100 Index depreciated 22.75 points to 11,576.38 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 34.03 points to 12,133.26.
The FBM 70 reduced 28.93 points to 14,864.34 but the FBM Ace was up by 17.36 points to 4,767.53.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gave up 84.65 points to 16,419.87, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.41 points to 154.39 and the Plantation Index was 4.54 points lower at 6,804.91.
Main Market volume was higher at 2.25 billion shares worth RM2.1 billion from 1.82 billion shares worth RM1.83 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover increased to 520.19 million units worth RM105.67 million versus 410.86 million units worth RM84.42 million.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 445.06 million shares worth RM83.25 million compared with 536.22 million shares worth RM97 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 296.11 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (377.55 million), construction (150.20 million), technology (187.68 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (35.17 million), property (119.90 million), plantation (11.70 million), REITs (13.79 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (525.63 million), healthcare (11.93 million), telecommunications and media (158.89 million), transportation and logistics (39.99 million), and utilities (22.38 million). — Bernama
