KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today, dragged by losses in index-linked heavyweights like Maybank, Tenaga and Petronas Chemicals, in line with the bearish performance of regional markets.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.54 points to 1,574.44 from yesterday’s close of 1,577.98.
After opening 2.71 points weaker at 1,575.27, the market bellwether moved between 1,571.58 and 1,577.79 throughout the day.
The overall market breadth on Bursa Malaysia was negative with losers outpacing gainers 536 to 294, while 371 counters remained unchanged, 784 were untraded and 37 others were suspended.
Turnover decreased to 2.30 billion shares worth RM1.74 billion from 3.07 billion shares worth RM2.57 billion yesterday.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.52 per cent to 27,909.12, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.58 per cent to 3,235.02 and South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index was 0.93 per cent lower at 2,246.13.
A dealer said market sentiment was clouded by the prevailing fear that the coronavirus outbreak in China would continue to plague trading activities.
“On the technical front, the FBM KLCI is anticipated to trade between the 1,551 and 1,580 marks in the near-term due to suppressed upward momentum.
“Support levels for the index are at 1,500, 1,515 and 1,551, while the resistance levels are at 1,580, 1,600 and 1,610,” he added.
Among the heavyweights on Bursa Malaysia, Maybank eased four sen to RM8.51, Tenaga lost six sen to RM12.82 and Petronas Chemicals decreased three sen to RM6.93.
Public Bank, however, added 12 sen to RM19.14.
The most active counter was Powerwell, which rose half-a-sen to 29 sen, while DGB Asia and MTouche eased half-a-sen each to 13 sen and 17 sen, respectively.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index was 20.89 points lower at 11,256.82, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 30.38 points to 11,983.31 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 18.83 points to 11,042.47.
The FBM 70 rose by 0.39 points to 14,230.09 and the FBM ACE decreased 13.71 points to 5,624.36.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.38 of-a-point to 152.48, the Financial Services Index fell 16.15 points to 15,098.81 and the Plantation Index lost 30.96 points to 7,453.77.
Main Market volume decreased to 1.14 billion shares worth RM1.48 billion from 1.87 billion shares worth RM2.28 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover declined to 358.55 million units worth RM64.50 from 399.21 million units worth RM66.19 million.
Volume on the ACE Market was lower at 802.18 million shares worth RM193.99 million from 804.99 million shares worth RM220.44 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 222.77 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (174.47 million), construction (89.25 million), technology (95.09 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (27.46 million), property (70.00 million), plantations (49.84 million), REITs (20.65 million), closed/fund (49,000), energy (238.16 million), healthcare (85.78 million), telecommunications and media (11.73 million), transportation and logistics 42.73 million) and utilities (15.39 million). — Bernama
