KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — Bursa Malaysia ended at the day’s low today, extending its losses for the fourth consecutive day amid persistent selling pressure in selected heavyweights as weak sentiment prevailed in the region, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,525.93, down 11.90 points, or 0.77 per cent, from last Friday’s close of 1,537.83.
The index, which opened 0.91 point better at 1,538.7, moved as high as 1,541.43 during the day.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 592 to 365, while 395 counters were unchanged, 903 untraded, and nine others suspended.
Total turnover was higher at 2.62 billion units worth RM1.78 billion compared with 2.23 billion units worth RM1.67 billion last Friday.
A dealer said Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, taking the cue from overnight positive performance on Wall Street, but turned into negative territory at mid-morning to end lower, succumbing to selling pressure on selected heavyweight stocks while tracking the mixed performance of regional peers. Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended broadly higher yesterday but well off earlier highs as investors continued to fret about inflation and rising interest rates, while also speculating about whether this year’s selloff may have touched bottom.
Meanwhile, key regional indices ended mixed with markets swinging between gains and losses as investors remained concerned whether the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes could cool inflation that was running at a four-decade high without tipping the US economy into recession, he said.
“As for the local bourse, investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves due to the absence of buying catalysts.
“We expect the FBM KLCI to consolidate further, hence anticipating it to trend sideways within the range of 1,520 to 1,540 for the week with immediate support at 1,520 followed by 1,500 while resistance is at 1,570,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.06 per cent to 3,224.78, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.10 per cent to 27,943.95, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.56 per cent to 21,531.67, South Korea’s KOSPI decreased 1.66 per cent to 2,626.3, and China’s SSE Composite Index rose 0.17 per cent to 3,241.76.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB lost four sen each to RM8.84 and RM5.06, respectively, Public Bank declined six sen to RM4.52, Petronas Chemicals fell 13 sen to RM9.86, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.50.
Of the actives, ACE Market debutant Yew Lee Pacific Group added one sen to 29 sen, Green Packet and G3 Global edged up half-a-sen each to 7.5 sen and five sen, respectively, Kumpulan Jetson rose 6.5 sen to 31.5 sen, and Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to five sen.
On the index board, the FBM 70 shed 51.91 points to 13,272.28, the FBM ACE slipped 22.07 points to 5,249.88, the FBMT 100 Index lost 73.17 points to 10,629.56, the FBM Emas Index dropped 71.36 points to 10,941.58, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 87.70 points to 11,276.79.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 2.64 points to 197.13, the Financial Services Index declined 72.01 points to 16,546.78, and the Plantation Index dipped 124.71 points to 7,786.92.
The Main Market volume rose to 1.71 billion shares worth RM1.56 billion from 1.57 billion shares worth RM1.51 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover jumped to 412.99 million units valued at RM75.26 million versus 157.99 million units valued at RM20.56 million.
The ACE Market volume slipped to 494.63 million shares worth RM138.17 million from 499.67 million shares worth RM140.63 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 324.66 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (334.17 million), construction (60.69 million), technology (109.30 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (51.59 million), property (154.89 million), plantation (42.16 million), REITs (5.86 million), closed/fund (6,000), energy (369.10 million), healthcare (69.0 million), telecommunications and media (134.76 million), transportation and logistics (25.71 million), and utilities (27.85 million). — Bernama
