KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Bursa Malaysia ended the first trading day of 2022 on a mixed note as the key index remained in negative territory on the back of continuous selling among the heavyweights, while on the broader market, gainers outnumbered losers.
Selling among the heavyweights was led by Top Glove and telecommunication stocks amidst profit-taking and concerns over the Covid-19 Omicron’s impact.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 18.48 points or 1.17 per cent to end at 1,549.05 compared with 1,567.53 at Friday’s close.
The index opened 13.89 points lower at 1,553.64 and moved between 1,545.53 and 1,556.28 throughout the day.
Top Glove fell 7.72 per cent to RM2.39 after 18.16 million shares changed hands, making it the most actively traded index-linked counter today.
Among the telecommunications companies, Axiata trimmed 28 sen to RM3.88, Digi lost 29 sen to RM4.07 and Maxis erased 25 sen to RM4.60 as 5G network service developments took a toll on risk appetites.
Market breadth turned positive with gainers leading losers 485 to 436, while 363 counters were unchanged, 990 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover rose to 2.74 billion units worth RM1.48 billion compared with 2.52 billion units valued at RM1.86 billion on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of Equity Research, Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI ended lower today due to profit-taking following the strong rally last Friday.
“We believe Malaysian equities are undervalued compared to its regional peers, but on the other hand, the heightened volatility and external uncertainties will be major setbacks.
“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade range bound and hover within the 1,540-1,560 range for the remainder of the week,” he told Bernama, adding that immediate support is located at 1,530 and resistance at 1,570.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank slipped one sen to RM4.15, Petronas Chemicals fell 16 sen to RM8.76, IHH Healthcare erased 47 sen to RM6.87, while Maybank perked three sen to RM8.33 and CIMB gained four sen to RM5.49.
Of the actives, SMTrack bagged 4.5 sen to 23.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange improved five sen to 81 sen and Key Alliance was flat at 1.5 sen, while XOX, DGB and AT Systematization all remained at three sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 86.4 points to 11,222.39, the FBM Emas Shariah Index erased 166.76 points to 12,096.34 and the FBMT 100 Index decreased 97.32 points to 10,917.81.
Conversely, the FBM ACE surged 125.67 points to 6,545.27 and the FBM 70 gained 15.89 points to 14,225.85.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index rose 48.43 points to 15,614.07 and the Plantation Index soared 108.27 points to 6,660.38, while the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 1.32 points to 201.39.
The Main Market volume decreased marginally to 1.39 billion shares worth RM1.21 billion from 1.41 billion shares valued at RM1.66 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover increased to 171.6 million units worth RM21.61 million from 157.66 million units worth RM22.45 million previously.
The ACE Market volume increased sharply to 1.17 billion shares valued at RM250.63 million from Friday’s 903.15 million shares valued at RM147.29 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 244.99 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (531.9 million), construction (32.38 million), technology (268.79 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (23.71 million), property (87.27 million), plantation (14.24 million), REITs (3.72 million), closed/fund (1,500), energy (77.7 million), healthcare (48.64 million), telecommunications and media (21.83 million), transportation and logistics (28.19 million), and utilities (10.58 million). — Bernama
