KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Bursa Malaysia ended easier today as selling activities persisted on the broader market, tracking the mixed performance by regional peers, said a dealer.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.13 points to 1,580.60 from Monday’s close of 1,584.73.
The index opened 0.26 point better at 1,584.99, and moved between 1,571.89 and 1,587.47 throughout the day.
Market breadth on the local bourse remained negative with losers leading gainers 541 to 336, while 424 counters remained unchanged, 658 were untraded and 18 others were suspended.
Turnover was slightly higher at 2.65 billion shares worth RM1.77 billion versus yesterday’s 2.61 billion shares worth RM1.64 billion.
The dealer said the mixed regional market performance failed to provide direction for the local market, and the weaker ringgit also added some pressure on the market.
“The FBM KLCI continued to lag, staying below the 1,600 level. However, it managed to stay above the support level of 1,575.
“Nonetheless, the small and mid-cap technology stocks have been bright spots and we expect this to continue. As such, investors should look at tech-related stocks,” he said.
On another note, AxiTrader chief Asia market strategist Stephen Innes attributed the weaker performance by plantation stocks today to news that Indian palm oil importers has effectively stopped all purchases from top supplier Malaysia after the Indian government had privately urged them to boycott the product.
The decline in plantation linked-counters today was led by Sime Darby Plantation which slid 12 sen to RM5.30 while KL Kepong weakened six sen to RM24.68 and Genting deducted two sen to RM6.15.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.65, Public Bank fell eight sen to RM19.14, Tenaga slid six sen to RM12.90 and Petronas Chemicals edged down one sen to RM7.09.
Dutch Lady remained as the top loser after shedding 66 sen to close at RM46.64.
Among the actives, Vortex weakened two sen to 15 sen, Priceworth rose half-a-sen to three sen and MYEG increased one sen to RM1.13.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 27.21 points to 11,283.20 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 17.60 points to 11,926.16.
The FBMT 100 Index weakened 26.84 points to 11,072.43, the FBM 70 slid 26.06 points to 14,214.43, while the FBM ACE increased 47.57 points to 5,550.45.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.28 of a point to 152.48, the Financial Services Index eased 73.51 points to 15,378.99 and the Plantation Index slipped 74.42 points to 7,602.32.
Main Market volume increased to 1.76 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion compared with 1.67 billion shares worth RM1.45 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover fell to 254.94 million units worth RM45.22 million from Monday’s 284.37 million units worth RM50.35 million.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 637.78 million shares worth RM168.47 from Monday’s 638.26 million shares worth RM140.22 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 291.59 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (336.30 million), construction (99.62 million), technology (244.60 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (35.29 million), property (121.69 million), plantations (137.80 million), REITs (11.20 million), closed/fund (132,000), energy (369.20 million), healthcare (14.48 million), telecommunications and media (21.05 million), transportation and logistics (53.57 million) and utilities (23.16 million). — Bernama
