KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today as investors remained cautious and continued to take profit ahead of the tabling of Budget 2022 this Friday.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.74 points to 1,584.20 from Monday’s close of 1,587.94.
The market bellwether opened 0.10 of-a-point higher at 1,588.04, and fluctuated between 1,583.07 and 1,589.11 throughout the day.
Market breadth was also negative with losers outpacing gainers 589 to 419, while 444 counters were unchanged, 838 untraded, and 33 others suspended.
Turnover slightly fell to 3.83 billion units valued at RM2.37 billion from Monday’s 3.88 billion units valued at RM2.46 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd’s vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key index remained in consolidation mode as investors continued profit-taking activities.
“Meanwhile oil prices reached multi-year highs on Monday as Brent crude futures reached a session high of US$86.70 per barrel, its highest level since October 2018. We reckon this is a buying opportunity for local oil and gas stocks.
“We see the local market to remain well supported as foreign funds continue to flow into the region. We believe such trend to persist and we expect the index to hover between the 1,585 and 1,600 range. Technically, we see immediate resistance at 1,615 while support is at 1,565,” he told Bernama.
Of the heavyweights, CIMB added one sen to RM5.25, Hong Leong Bank gained two sen to RM18.86, both IHH Healthcare and Maxis were flat at RM6.55 and RM4.80, respectively, while Maybank fell three sen to RM8.12, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.23, and Petronas Chemicals shed two sen to RM8.78.
As for the actives, Key Alliance and Vortex both inched up half-a-sen to three sen and 10 sen, respectively, GUH Holdings advanced eight sen to 72 sen, Kanger was flat at five sen, while KNM and Dagang NeXchange edged down half-a-sen each to 21.5 sen and 76.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index shed 28.75 points to 11,674.16, the FBMT 100 Index fell 30.84 points to 11,306.61, the FBM 70 slipped 57.94 points to 15,310.32, the FBM ACE strengthened 12.63 points to 7,170.11, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 35.31 points easier at 12,739.51.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 29.51 points to 15,715.43, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.62 of-a-point to 209.91, and the Plantation Index went down 13.36 points to 6,994.31.
The Main Market volume went down to 2.29 billion shares worth RM2.05 billion from 2.59 billion shares worth RM2.05 billion on Monday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 243.75 million units worth RM37.87 million from 288.05 million units worth RM44.24 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 1.28 billion shares valued at RM282.02 million from 990.06 million shares valued at RM371.81 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 339.45 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (873.96 million), construction (128.17 million), technology (274.17 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (49.99 million), property (189.26 million), plantation (45.61 million), REITs (7.27 million), closed/fund (24,700), energy (177.04 million), healthcare (56.61 million), telecommunications and media (113.25 million), transportation and logistics (113.25 million), and utilities (10.35 million). — Bernama
