KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Bursa Malaysia ended the day weaker, having sank to a new four-year low in the afternoon, as the US-China trade dispute worsened and created a ripple effect across markets around the globe, said a dealer.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) trimmed 7.56 points to 1,551.23 compared with yesterday’s close of 1,558.79.
The index, which opened 4.06 points weaker at 1,554.73, moved between 1,548.62 and 1,555.42 throughout the day.
The FBM KLCI hit a four-year low of 1,551.96 at noon today — a lower level recorded previously was on Aug 24, 2015, at 1,532.00 — and fell further at mid-afternoon to 1,548.62.
Market breadth was negative as losers trumped gainers 509 to 293, with 701 counters unchanged, 508 untraded and 29 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 1.95 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion from 2.44 billion shares worth RM1.72 billion yesterday.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd analyst Kenneth Leong told Bernama the new four-year low was ignited by the US-China trade dispute which had no signs of halting anytime soon.
“There was also no fresh catalyst on the local front and this, coupled with the depreciating ringgit against the US dollar, made the local bourse unattractive,” he said.
“Meanwhile, the FBM Small Cap Index looks to continue its near-term ascent amid increased rotational play activities, but with market uncertainties picking up, we think that further gains may be tempered by bouts of profit-taking activities.
“Hence, we see increased volatility among the lower liners over the near term that could also spread to the broader market,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank declined seven sen to RM8.38 and Tenaga and Nestle trimmed 10 sen each to RM13.60 and RM144.10, respectively.
Meanwhile, Public Bank was 18 sen lower at RM19.12 while PChem improved three sen to RM7.20.
As for the actives, Bumi Armada and KNM Group improved 1.5 sen each to 36.5 sen and 38.5 sen, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ekovest and Sapura Energy were flat at 79.5 sen and 26 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index declined 63.3 points to 11,010.95, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 64.42 points to 10,832.23 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 52.34 points weaker at 11,619.2.
The FBM 70 fell 129.85 points to 13,764.69 and the FBM ACE trimmed 25.95 points to 4,588.98.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 98.98 points to 14,933.65, the Plantation Index shed 30.42 points to 6,539.16 and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.14 of-a-point easier at 149.97.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.24 billion units worth RM1.53 billion from Tuesday’s 1.58 billion units worth RM1.55 billion.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 383.78 million units worth RM74.47 million from 417.7 million units worth RM74.27 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market sank to 317.54 million shares worth RM73.43 million from 437.09 million shares worth RM87.54 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services accounted for 149.5 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (168.49 million), construction (189.28 million), technology (113.5 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (32.49 million), property (105.07 million), plantations (34.4 million), REITs (12.03 million), closed/fund (34,800), energy (305.4 million), healthcare (22.16 million), telecommunications and media (70.24 million), transportation and logistics (33.88 million), and utilities (13.13 million). — Bernama
