KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Bursa Malaysia ended slightly lower today in line with the subdued regional market as concerns over global economy dampened sentiment.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 1.02 points to 1,589.82 after trading between 1,585.66 and 1,592.13.
The market barometer opened 0.45 of-a-point lower at 1,590.39.
A dealer said a US yield curve inversion, where long-term rates are lower than short-term rates and a portent for several past US recessions, sent Wall Street stocks tumbling and dampened the sentiment further.
“The deepening inversion in the US yield curve sent market participants dashing for safe-haven assets such as gold and stoked fears of a recession,” he said.
Regionally, the Shanghai Composite Index decreased 0.29 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.19 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up 0.11 per cent.
On the local bourse, Maybank eased two sen to RM8.53 and Public Bank lost four sen to RM20.32.
TNB rose 14 sen to RM13.74 and Petronas Chemicals and IHH gained two sen each to RM6.90 and RM5.75, respectively.
As for actives, KNM slipped half-a-sen to 38 sen and Ekovest lost 1.5 sen to 81 sen.
Opcom jumped 18.5 sen to 63.5 sen, Vsolar added one sen to 14 sen and Redtone gained two sen to 41 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index went down 14.84 points to 11,213.47 and the FBMT 100 Index was 12.341 points lower at 11,050.35, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index increased 26.87 points to 11,767.79.
The FBM Ace rose 45.3 points to 4,538.27 but the FBM 70 erased 37.03 points to 13,830.91.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 117.37 points to 15,352.81 and the Plantation Index contracted 13.49 points to 6,757.89, while the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.26 of-a-point lower at 147.36.
Market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers 517 to 305, with 378 counters unchanged, 777 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover was lower at 1.93 billion units worth RM1.54 billion from yesterday’s 2.11 billion units worth RM2.61 billion.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.14 billion shares valued at RM1.34 billion from Tuesday’s 1.41 billion shares valued at RM2.45 billion.
Warrants turnover rose to 434.90 million units worth RM91.45 million from yesterday’s 407.56 million units worth RM93.42 million.
Volume on the ACE Market expanded to 356.73 million shares valued at RM104.18 million from 287.64 million shares valued at RM67.1 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 233.96 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (135.07 million), construction (92.47 million), technology (93.04 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (44.35 million), property (99.27 million), plantations (21.17 million), REITs (11.72 million), closed/fund (8,000), energy (287.83 million), healthcare (15.73 million), telecommunications and media (55.28 million), transportation and logistics (27.39 million), and utilities (26.41 million). — Bernama
