KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Bursa Malaysia ended broadly lower today weighed by continuous profit-taking in selected heavyweights led by Press Metal and Public Bank, in line with the weaker regional market sentiment.
The two counters contributed a combined 3.54 points to the decline in the barometer index, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 14.18 points or 0.90 per cent to 1,555.33 from 1,569.51 at Thursday’s close.
The index opened 4.28 points lower at 1,565.23 and fluctuated between 1,549.93 and 1,565.23 throughout the trading session.
The overall market breadth was negative with decliners beating advancers 828 to 204, while 348 counters were unchanged, 871 untraded, and 28 others suspended.
Total turnover rose to 3.61 billion units worth RM2.95 billion versus 3.46 billion units valued at RM2.14 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed lower due to selling pressure seen across the region.
“Key regional markets were lower following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, with energy and technology stocks primarily dragging markets down.
“Additionally, hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials gave clear indications that US interest rates could rise as soon as March, putting an end to ultra-easy monetary conditions,” he told Bernama today.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.28 per cent to 28,124.28, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index went down 0.19 per cent to 24,383.32, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.69 per cent to 3,279.81 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.36 per cent to 2,921.92.
Back home, heavyweights, Maybank and Public Bank gave up 4.0 sen each to RM8.46 and RM4.20, respectively, Petronas Chemicals slipped 6.0 sen to RM9.09, IHH Healthcare went down 7.0 sen to RM6.58 while CIMB fell 5.0 sen to RM5.54.
Of the actives, AirAsia Group declined 12.5 sen to 62 sen, DNeX trimmed 1.5 sen to 84 sen, while SMTrack and Sapura Energy were flat at 29 sen and 5.0 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 137.20 points weaker at 11,178.52, the FBMT 100 Index lost 127.18 points to 10,885.65, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 193.68 points to 11,880.81, the FBM ACE dipped 209.0 points to 6,279.63, and the FBM 70 dropped 283.64 points to 13,852.57.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 70.75 points to 16,152.08, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 3.14 points to 202.96, while the Plantation Index fell 12.43 points to 6,761.55.
The Main Market volume expanded to 2.36 billion shares worth RM2.65 billion compared with 2.08 billion shares worth RM1.91 billion on Thursday.
Warrants turnover advanced to 262.03 million units worth RM31.58 million from 241.93 million units worth RM30.63 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume narrowed to 968.34 million shares worth RM266.65 million versus 1.13 billion shares valued at RM202.71 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 725.27 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (554.78 million), construction (75.22 million), technology (427.89 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (72.84 million), property (163.45 million), plantation (10.26 million), REITs (6.18 million), closed/fund (35,200), energy (160.45 million), healthcare (51.84 million), telecommunications and media (23.54 million), transportation and logistics (49.35 million), and utilities (35.79 million). — Bernama
