KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — Bursa Malaysia closed broadly lower today, with the key index languishing in negative territory for the entire day, as regional sentiment was dampened by the United States (US) bond tapering, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended the day at 1,533.36, down 14.59 points from 1,547.95 at yesterday’s close.
The index, which opened 1.49 points weaker at 1,546.46, moved between 1,532.60 and 1,546.50 throughout the day.
The overall market breadth was bearish with losers thumping gainers 618 to 320, while 407 counters were unchanged, 928 untraded, and 15 others suspended.
Total turnover shrank to 2.87 billion units worth RM1.9 billion from 4.49 billion units worth RM1.96 billion yesterday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the main market culprit was obviously concern over the possibly earlier interest rate hike in the US, following the release of December’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes.
He said the benchmark US 10-year Treasury bond yield has increased to more than 1.70 per cent at the moment and the yield curve has steepened as the long-term rate has risen much faster than short end of the curve.
“So the bond market is signalling interest rate would be higher going forward. Clearly, equity investors have decided to cash out in light of the uncertainty over interest rate prospect.
“This has taken a toll on Malaysia’s equities along with other bourses in this region,” he told Bernama, adding market condition would continue to be cautious tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said investor sentiment would remain jittery although bargain hunting might prevail.
“Hence, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend in range bound and hovering within the 1,530-1,540 range towards the weekend.
“From a technical perspective, we see immediate support at 1,530 and resistance at 1,570,” he said.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals trimmed five sen each to RM8.30, RM4.12 and RM8.73 respectively, IHH Healthcare fell 10 sen to RM6.76, while CIMB eased four sen to RM5.43.
Of the actives, SMTrack gained two sen to 28 sen, Dagang NeXchange inched up half-a-sen to 84.5 sen, while Key Alliance and Pasukhas were flat at 1.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 90.85 points lower at 11,158.9, the FBMT 100 Index went down 90.44 points to 10,846.43, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 106.22 points to 11,995.9, the FBM ACE lost 101.96 points to 6,581.98, and the FBM 70 dipped 64.31 points to 14,302.69.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index fell 93.68 points to 15,621.2, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 1.23 points to 201.13, while the Plantation Index gave up 51.45 points for 6,602.97.
The Main Market volume slid to 1.72 billion shares worth RM1.63 billion compared with 2.02 billion shares worth RM1.6 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover slipped to 202.45 million units worth RM25.22 million from 206.62 million units worth RM23.94 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume fell sharply to 943.76 million shares worth RM242.55 million from 2.26 billion shares valued at RM332.24 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 292.14 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (558.48 million), construction (54.28 million), technology (350.83 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (53.79 million), property (126.18 million), plantation (14.65 million), REITs (8.87 million), closed/fund (4,900), energy (78.31 million), healthcare (81.13 million), telecommunications and media (22.34 million), transportation and logistics (52.06 million), and utilities (22.18 million). — Bernama
