KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Bursa Malaysia concluded the week on a negative note as profit-taking emerged in technology (tech) stocks, particularly after Vitrox, the biggest machine vision inspection system provider in the country, reported a disappointing third quarter earnings yesterday.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.11 points or 0.07 per cent easier at 1,570.0 from yesterday’s close of 1,571.11.

After opening 1.81 points better at 1,572.92, the key index moved between 1,567.90 and 1,573.15 throughout the day.   

Market breadth remained negative, with 429 decliners outpacing 322 advancers, while 417 counters were unchanged, 830 untraded and 15 others suspended.

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Volume declined to 2.06 billion shares worth RM1.39 billion from 2.11 billion shares worth RM1.68 billion yesterday.

Commenting on today’s trading volume and value, Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew said they were relatively thin compared with the yearly average volume of 2.3 billion worth over RM2 billion, as market participants still waiting for fresh leads after Vitrox’s fall.

“Many investors have been quite geared up and excited looking at tech stocks’ potential recently, but today’s drop in Vitrox signalled that earnings growth is not a certainty for tech stocks.

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“That (Vitrox) is a very typical technology company, whereby their earnings are very volatile on a quarter-on-quarter basis, and this is what investors are reacting to,” he told Bernama when contacted.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Thursday, Vitrox said its net profit fell to RM13.86 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019 (Q3 2019) from RM28.02 million a year earlier, while for the nine-month period, its cumulative net profit declined to RM61.86 million from RM76.04 million previously.

According to Pong, Vitrox’s announcement had sent tech stock investors scurrying for cover, and they sold down Vitrox and MPI, the two heavyweights of tech stocks on the local bourse.

At the close, Vitrox and MPI were the second and third biggest losers on the local bourse respectively after BAT.

Vitrox lost 48 sen to RM7.59, MPI slipped 30 sen to RM11.20 while BAT was 58 sen lower at RM18.80.

Overall, Pong said the key index was dragged by the selling in heavyweights, with Maybank and Petronas Chemicals easing by one sen each to RM8.45 and RM7.44 respectively, while Tenaga trimmed two sen to RM13.84.

“However, the losses were offset by tidy gains in Islamic financial services providers like Syarikat Takaful and BIMB, which have attracted investors attention today due to their strong earnings for Q3 2019,” he said.

Syarikat Takaful and BIMB were among the top gainers on Bursa Malaysia, with Syarikat Takaful closing 18 sen higher at RM6.38 and BIMB 10 sen firmer at RM4.16.

Of the most active, Velesto climbed two sen to 36.5 sen, Green Packet warrant perked one sen to 34 sen, KNM inched up half-a-sen to 46 sen.

Meanwhile, NetX eased half-a-sen to two sen and Vsolar was unchanged at 5.5 sen.

The FBM 70 fell 87.29 points to 13,976.20, the FBMT 100 Index weakened 22.12 points to 10,971.64 while the FBM Ace added 12.99 points to 4,871.11.

The FBM Emas Index slid 23.29 points to 11,160.45 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 13.06 points lower at 11,798.58.

Sector-wise, the Technology Index edged down 0.78 of-a-point to 37.18, the Financial Services Index dropped 23.71 points to 15,146.35, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.15 of-a-point to 153.09, but the Plantation Index increased 35.44 points to 6,635.91.

Main Market volume narrowed to 1.33 billion shares worth RM1.24 billion from 1.39 billion shares worth RM1.51 billion yesterday.

Warrants turnover expanded to 305.11 million units valued at RM62.93 million against 304.47 million units valued at RM59.76 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market widened to 428.11 million worth RM95.25 million compared with 410.68 million shares worth RM107.66 million previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 194.76 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (212.56 million), construction (138.26 million), technology (165.39 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (37.62 million), property (59.29 million), plantations (17.30 million), REITs (17.54 million), closed/fund (5,200), energy (366.32 million), healthcare (10.49 million), telecommunications and media (79.73 million), transportation and logistics (18.06 million), and utilities (13.33 million).

Meanwhile, in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, Merge Energy Bhd said it has changed its name to Stella Holdings Bhd, thus the stock’s short name will be changed from MERGE to STELLA.

“As such, the company’s shares will be traded and quoted under the new name with effect from 9 am on Oct 30, 2019,” it said. — Bernama