KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 31 — Year-end profit-taking overtook window-dressing activities on the last trading day of the decade, sending Bursa Malaysia to finish at its intraday low of 1,588.76.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retreated 26.91 points, or 1.67 per cent, from Monday’s close of 1,615.67.
After opening at 1,609.37, the key index hovered between 1,588.76 and 1,610.69 for the rest of the day.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of research Vincent Lau said the year-end profit-taking was mainly in large-cap stocks after the benchmark index finished at a fresh four-month high of 1,615.67 on Monday.
“The local stock market was also tracking the negative performance of its regional peers due to the overnight weakness on Wall Street,” he told Bernama.
Market breadth continued to stay negative, with losers trumping gainers 552 to 314, while 398 counters were unchanged, 707 untraded and 39 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 2.25 billion shares worth RM1.75 billion compared with 2.34 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion on Monday.
Lau said despite the downtrend on the local equity market today, Bursa Malaysia is likely to welcome the New Year 2020 on a strong note, supported by the bargain-hunting activities.
“Therefore, the intra-day low at today’s closing indicated that the local bourse would see a fresh start on Jan 2, 2020,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank fell 54 sen to RM19.44, IHH was 23 sen weaker at RM5.47, Tenaga shed 28 sen to RM13.26, CIMB trimmed 16 sen to RM5.15 and Maybank declined eight sen to RM8.64.
Of the actives, TDM perked 1.5 sen to 42 sen and JCY added four sen to 31.5 sen, while Rimbunan Sawit shrank two sen to 43 sen, Bumi Armada lost one sen to 53 sen and Sapura Energy was flat at 27 sen.
As for the top losers, Nestle gave up RM1.10 to RM147.00, Dutch Lady dropped 90 sen to RM49.10, PPB erased 46 sen to RM18.84, BAT slid 36 sen to RM15.08 and Hong Leong Bank lost 30 sen to RM17.30.
The FBM Emas Index declined 149.05 points to 11,323.49 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 142.35 points weaker at 11,947.92.
The FBMT 100 Index dipped 151.53 points to 11,114.55 and the FBM 70 slipped 42.81 points to 14,206.81 but the FBM ACE was 36.46 points firmer at 5,226.59.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 0.43 of-a-point to 153.40, the Financial Services Index slumped 242.13 points to 15,464.17 and the Plantation Index erased 116.27 points to 7,733.37.
Main Market volume rose to 1.74 billion shares worth RM1.61 billion from 1.72 billion shares worth RM1.48 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 194.59 million units valued at RM32.35 million against 242.02 million units valued at RM42.99 million previously.
Volume on the ACE Market eased to 312.67 million shares worth RM103.12 million compared with 375.15 million shares worth RM115.09 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 235.53 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (316.47 million), construction (120.01 million), technology (214.14 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (42.51 million), property (155.98 million), plantations (272.39 million), REITs (7.45 million), closed/fund (91,100), energy (244.94 million), healthcare (21.14 million), telecommunications and media (24.58 million), transportation and logistics (30.83 million), and utilities (60.77 million). — Bernama
