KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday’s gains to end lower today on profit-taking, amid mixed performance on regional peers as investors remained cautious on uncertainties such as global recession, inflation and rising interest rates, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 16.69 points or 1.06 per cent to 1,553.41 from 1,570.10 at yesterday’s close.
The index, which opened 6.70 points weaker at 1,563.40, moved between 1,552.22 and 1,563.89 throughout the session.
Market breadth was mixed with gainers leading losers 508 to 450, while 405 counters were unchanged, 880 untraded, and 16 others suspended.
Total turnover decreased to 2.57 billion units worth RM2.49 billion from 3.80 billion units worth RM6.11 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said on the local bourse, investors took profit as a result of a sudden surge in the FBM KLCI during the last minute of trading yesterday.
Key regional markets were broadly lower today as investors were wary of prevailing uncertainties including global recession, inflation and rising interest rates.
He said US equities slumped overnight on fears of inflation and slower economic growth as the world is now facing a food crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 222.84 points or 0.67 per cent while the Nasdaq Composite declined by 49.74 points or 0.41 per cent.
“We reckon that the short-term market sentiment will remain jittery amid the uncertain regional and global performance although bargain hunting may prevail.
“Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend sideways, within the range of 1,550-1,565 for the remainder of the week,” Thong told Bernama, adding the immediate support for the key index was at 1,530 and resistance at 1,575.
Among heavyweights, Maybank fell 21 sen to RM8.89, Public Bank slipped 10 sen to RM4.63, both Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare lost 20 sen each to RM10.06 and RM6.50, respectively, while CIMB rose 5.0 sen to RM5.20.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy slid 1.5 sen to 7.0 sen, Yong Tai was down half-a-sen to 10 sen, G3 Global eased 1.0 sen to 4.5 sen, while Genting Bhd added 49 sen to RM5.24 and Serba Dinamik gained 1.0 sen to 11 sen.
On the index board, the FBM 70 dipped 4.49 points to 13,234.63, FBMT 100 Index sank 89.72 points to 10,768.78, FBM Emas Index weakened 81.01 points to 11,070.89, FBM Emas Shariah Index retreated 96.13 points to 11,413.50, while the FBM ACE declined 1.99 points to 5,183.65.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 2.55 points to 200.66, the Plantation Index dipped 27.43 points to 7,936.55, and the Financial Services Index declined 164.11 points to 16,746.58.
The Main Market volume decreased to 1.92 billion shares worth RM2.35 billion from 3.01 billion shares worth RM5.92 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover trimmed to 362.54 million units valued at RM58.65 million versus 384.26 million units valued at RM80.84 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 282.48 million shares worth RM81.58 million from 399.22 million shares worth RM103.63 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 376.98 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (376.21 million), construction (41.97 million), technology (169.80 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (79.36 million), property (185.22 million), plantation (54.50 million), REITs (5.06 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (496.72 million), healthcare (38.02 million), telecommunications and media (27.53 million), transportation and logistics (52.93 million), and utilities (21.33 million). — Bernama
