KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Bursa Malaysia closed broadly lower across the board today due to heavy profit-taking activities following strong rallies for over a week, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was lower by 1.27 per cent or 20.36 points to 1,582.69 from 1,603.05 at Friday’s close.
The index, which opened 1.39 points lower at 1,601.66, moved between 1,578.61 and 1,603.38 throughout the session.
The overall market breadth was negative with decliners surpassing gainers 719 to 338, while 378 counters were unchanged, 803 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total turnover was higher at 4.02 billion units worth RM3.08 billion versus 3.87 billion units worth RM2.99 billion on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets were also in negative territory due to the ongoing uncertainty created by political tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.78 per cent to 26,910.87, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index went down 0.65 per cent to 24,170.07, Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.22 per cent to 3,436.36 and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.03 per cent to 2,743.80.
“Meanwhile skepticism about the outlook for monetary policy also continued to weigh on the markets ahead of an anticipated interest rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve next month,” he said.
On the domestic front, he said the FBM KLCI had a major correction due to the overbought situation previously, nonetheless, sentiment on the local bourse is believed to be still positive buoyed by the influx of foreign funds.
“Following the correction today, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend within the 1,575-1,600 range for the week with immediate support at 1,570 and resistance at 1,610,” he said.
Bursa heavyweights Maybank added 14 sen to RM8.80, Public Bank fell two sen to RM4.37, Petronas Chemicals declined nine sen to RM9.12, IHH Healthcare shrank 16 sen to RM6.39 and CIMB eased three sen to RM5.57.
As for the actives, SMTrack gained two sen to 26 sen, Ta Win shed half-a-sen to 18 sen, Dagang Nexchange fell nine sen to RM1.18 and KNM was unchanged at 18 sen.
On the index board, FBM ACE weakened 124.87 points to 6,169.89, FBM 70 reduced 108.95 points to 13,635.79, FBM Emas Index dropped 129.74 points to 11,321.77, FBMT 100 Index gave up 129.64 points to 10,995.51, while FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 218.46 points to 11,992.25.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index increased 14.17 points to 16,414.85, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 3.8 points lower at 207.83, while the Plantation Index slid 334.41 points to 7,785.82.
The Main Market volume increased to 2.80 billion shares worth RM2.78 billion from 2.58 billion shares worth RM2.72 billion previously.
Warrants turnover weakened to 297.74 million units worth RM32.77 million against 373.25 million units worth RM49.52 million on Friday.
The ACE Market volume widened to 919.17 million shares valued at RM266.95 million versus 911.60 million shares valued at RM222.70 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 493.48 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (843.17 million), construction (103.90 million), technology (379.29 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (71.07 million), property (296.39 million), plantation (128.85 million), REITs (8.97 million), closed/fund (15,300), energy (315.68 million), healthcare (50.41 million), telecommunications and media (33.36 million), transportation and logistics (44.97 million), and utilities (27.15 million). — Bernama
