KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Bursa Malaysia’s benchmark index ended slightly lower by 0.17 per cent today on continuous selling in heavyweights led by Maybank, Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 2.58 points to 1,527.75 from 1,530.33 at yesterday’s close after opening 0.89 of-a-point easier at 1,529.44.
The key index fluctuated between 1,525.45 and 1,532.82 throughout the trading session.
The overall market breadth. however, was positive with advancers outpacing decliners 518 to 402, while 416 counters were unchanged, 913 untraded, and 27 others suspended.
Total turnover eased to 3.39 billion units worth RM2.25 billion from yesterday’s 3.57 billion units worth RM2.61 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI hovered around its 1,530 support level today and the online stockbroking firm reckoned the accumulation of stocks to persist on dips.
“We continue to maintain our cautiously optimistic view and expect bargain-hunting activities to emerge, while on the other hand, we remain cautious given the increasing market volatility around the world.
“As such, we expect the benchmark index to trade within the 1,530-1,540 range towards the weekend,” he told Bernama.
Bank Negara Malaysia today maintained the overnight policy rate at 1.75 per cent during its first Monetary Policy Committee meeting in 2022.
Heavyweights, Maybank declined four sen to RM8.24, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare fell one sen each to RM4.17 and RM6.55, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals slipped three sen to RM8.95 and CIMB trimmed eight sen to RM5.25.
Meanwhile, Press Metal soared 24 sen to RM6.12, Petronas Gas rose eight sen to RM16.82 and TNB was flat at RM9.07.
Of the actives, ACE market debutant Coraza soared 36.5 sen to 64.5 sen, Dagang NeXchange increased 5.5 sen to 96.5 sen, G3 Global and MMAG were both flat at eight sen respectively, while Ageson slipped one sen to 2.5 sen and SMTrack inched down half-a-sen to 22 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index rose 5.99 points to 10,980.61, the FBM Emas Shariah Index expanded 33.26 points to 11,702.35, the FBM ACE advanced 69.57 points to 6,161.13, the FBM 70 went up 76.51 points to 13,565.30, and the FBMT 100 Index slipped 0.46 of-a-point to 10,685.22.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index decreased 65.78 points to 15,778.83, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 2.19 points higher at 201.24, while the Plantation Index added 8.07 points to 6,678.99.
The Main Market volume went down to 2.11 billion shares worth RM1.88 billion from 2.35 billion shares worth RM2.37 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover improved to 378.96 million units worth RM43.54 million from 260.14 million units worth RM25.76 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 897.06 million shares worth RM324.49 million against yesterday’s 953.68 million shares worth RM212.41 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 498.54 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (409.57 million), construction (214.79 million), technology (455.39 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (67.73 million), property (165.81 million), plantation (12.61 million), REITs (7.52 million), closed/fund (7,000), energy (154.02 million), healthcare (41.41 million), telecommunications and media (32.42 million), transportation and logistics (24.05 million), and utilities (25.14 million). — Bernama
