KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — Bursa Malaysia ended broadly lower today, with the key index falling 0.80 per cent on bearish market sentiment and weighed down by selling in selected heavyweights led by Dialog Group and Petronas Chemicals.
Both counters contributed a combined of 4.19 points to the decline in the index.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 12.41 points to 1,542.92 from 1,555.33 at Friday’s close.
The index opened 1.53 points lower at 1,553.80 and fluctuated between 1,541.07 and 1,555.31 throughout the trading session.
The overall market breadth was negative with decliners trouncing advancers 556 to 336, while 408 counters were unchanged, 952 untraded, and 20 others suspended.
Total turnover fell to 2.59 billion units worth RM2.01 billion from 3.61 billion units worth RM2.95 billion on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI ended lower as investors continued to take profits particularly in oil and gas as well as banking heavyweights.
Bursa Malaysia also bucked the regional trend as the major markets closed mostly higher following positive economic data from China as the country’s Gross Domestic Product grew 4.0 per cent year-on-year and 1.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2021.
“On the other hand, investors are cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan’s meeting this week as policymakers are debating how soon interest rate hike will come.
“On the domestic front, despite the cautious market undertone, we expect bargain hunting to prevail given the cheap valuations of local stocks, continuous inflow of foreign investors, and improving macroeconomic conditions in the country,” Thong told Bernama.
As such, the FBM KLCI is expected to move within the 1,540-1,560 range this week, with immediate resistance at 1,570 and support at 1,530, he added.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.74 per cent to 28,333.52, Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 0.17 per cent to 3,287.57, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.68 per cent to 24,218.03.
Back home, heavyweights Dialog Group lost 22 sen to RM2.67, Petronas Chemicals trimmed 14 sen to RM8.95, Press Metal fell 13 sen to RM5.92, while TNB was flat at RM9.04 and Public Bank gained two sen to RM4.22.
Of the actives, Komarkcorp rose 1.5 sen to 15 sen, Dagang NeXchange went up 2.5 sen to 86.5 sen, Iconic Worldwide added two sen to 30 sen, Kanger International was flat at two sen, SMTrack shed 5.5 sen to 23.5 sen, AirAsia edged down half-a-sen to 61.5 sen, and AHB declined 1.5 sen to 13 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 76.22 points to 11,102.30, the FBMT 100 Index slipped 78.92 points to 10,806.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 102.79 points to 11,778.02, the FBM ACE dipped 36.46 points to 6,243.17, and the FBM 70 declined 65.94 points to 13,786.63.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slid 60.92 points to 16,091.16, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.02 points to 200.94, and the Plantation Index was 98.37 points lower at 6,663.18.
The Main Market volume dwindled to 1.64 billion shares worth RM1.80 billion versus Friday’s 2.36 billion shares worth RM2.65 billion.
Warrants turnover shrank to 203.99 million units worth RM22.77 million from 262.03 million units worth RM31.58 million previously.
The ACE Market volume decreased to 730.73 million shares worth RM176.58 million from 968.34 million shares worth RM266.65 million last Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 411.40 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (462.62 million), construction (81.26 million), technology (277.88 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (58.80 million), property (124.26 million), plantation (10.41 million), REITs (4.93 million), closed/fund (23,200), energy (117.52 million), healthcare (34.58 million), telecommunications and media (16.35 million), transportation and logistics (21.50 million), and utilities (19.21 million). — Bernama
