KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Bursa Malaysia closed mixed today on persistent profit-taking in selected heavyweights led by finance-linked stocks, interspersing with bargain hunting in the FBM ACE counters and lower liners including rubber glove stocks, dealers said.
At the close, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended 0.34 per cent or 5.38 points lower at 1,549.58 from yesterday’s close of 1,554.96.
The barometer index opened 0.21 of-a-point easier at 1,554.75 and moved between 1,538.26 and 1,558.95 throughout the trading session.
On the broader market, gainers led losers 706 to 424, while 379 counters were unchanged, 525 untraded and 33 others suspended.
Total volume expanded to 12.12 billion shares valued at RM6.18 billion from yesterday’s 10.22 billion shares worth RM7.62 billion.
After yesterday’s pullback, glove-maker stocks are back into rotational play. These included Supermax, Top Glove, Rubberex, Kossan Rubber and Comfort Gloves, which emerged as top gainers towards the closing bell.
AxiCorp chief global market strategist Stephen Innes said the local equities traded in a quite tentative pattern throughout the day despite a bounce higher on improving US-China trade after China pledged to import huge volumes of US soybean products.
At the same time, he said Covid-19 is still a worry as the countries in the northern hemisphere to where Malaysia exports into are shifting into winter months wherein social activities would mostly move indoors.
He said as there may be worries of the virus risks increasing during the winter, this may lead to more soft lockdowns.
“On another external development, there is also a level of uncertainty going into the Jackson Hole economic policy symposium, that the US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell might not deliver a big enough dovish policy signal that might strengthen the US dollar for a few weeks.
“Therefore, traders are looking to book profits on rally ahead of Jackson Hole symposium on Thursday and Friday,” he told Bernama.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank was down three sen to RM7.46, Top Glove gained 94 sen to RM26.34, Public Bank eased 36 sen to RM16.60, Tenaga fell two sen to RM11.00 and Hartalega increased 26 sen to RM16.76.
Top gainers, Supermax advanced RM1.48 to RM21.28, followed by Top Glove, and Rubberex which put on 72 sen to RM5.75.
Kossan Rubber expanded 66 sen to RM15.30 and Comfort Gloves climbed 32 sen to RM4.55.
Among the actives, Digistar added eight sen to 17.5 sen, XOX gained 4.5 sen to 29.5 sen, and CME bagged five sen to 14.5 sen.
Top losers were Nestle, which lost RM1.50 to RM139.20, Petronas Dagangan declined 50 sen to RM20.72 and Carlsberg dipped 36 sen to RM22.52.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index improved 21.46 points to 11,195.47, the FBMT 100 Index was 15.84 points firmer at 10,996.99, and the FBM 70 soared 231.79 points to 14,649.64.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index ticked up 72.20 points to 13,259.29 and the FBM ACE jumped 296.68 points to 11,185.85.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 79.11 points to 12,834.76, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.07 of-a-point higher at 140.65, and the Plantation Index was 42.35 points weaker at 7,033.99.
Main Market volume increased to 7.47 billion shares worth RM4.62 billion compared with 4.74 billion shares valued at RM5.58 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover shrank to 586.47 million units worth RM195.47 million versus 942.91 million units worth RM302.08 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market declined to 4.03 billion shares valued at RM1.36 billion from 4.53 billion shares valued at RM1.74 billion previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 1.72 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (2.69 billion), construction (295.45 million), technology (1.17 billion), SPAC (nil), financial services (63.16 million), property (391.21 million), plantations (63.02 million), REITs (8.88 million), closed/fund (45,900), energy (692.40 million), healthcare (135.62 million), telecommunications and media (50.21 million), transportation and logistics (155.18million), and utilities (29.62 million). — Bernama
