KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — Bursa Malaysia closed marginally lower today amid mixed regional peers as sentiment was mostly weighed down by the negative cues from global markets.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.52 points to 1,496.03 from 1,501.55 on Friday, with almost two thirds of the 30 index-linked companies ending in negative territory.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.03 of-a-point better at 1,501.58 this morning, fluctuated between 1,490.41 and 1,501.58 throughout the trading session.
On the broader market, losers beat gainers 464 to 323, while 410 counters were unchanged, 1,061 untraded, and eight others suspended.
Total turnover was slightly reduced to 2.19 billion units worth RM1.33 billion from 2.61 billion units worth RM1.62 billion on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets ended mixed following different reactions on the United States (US) economic data.
He also said some investors are wary of further possible aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserves following a stronger-than-expected US job data last Friday.
On the local front, he reckoned sentiment to remain cautious given the increasing market volatility across the region.
“The local market may turn positive due to persistent net inflow from foreign funds which reached RM6.7 billion year to date.
“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend sideways with an uptrend bias within the 1,485-1,515 range for the week,” he told Bernama, citing the next resistance level to be at 1,500 followed by 1,530, with the support level at 1,460.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank slipped one sen to RM8.88, Petronas Chemicals fell seven sen to RM8.73, IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM6.41, and Tenaga Nasional lost 12 sen to RM8.35.
Public Bank added one sen to RM4.64 and CIMB gained three sen to RM5.28.
Of the actives, Metronic and Zen Tech trimmed one sen each to 6.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, My E.G. shed 2.5 sen to 78.5 sen, and Dagang NeXchange bagged 1.5 sen to 89 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 35.87 points to 10,623.58, the FBMT 100 Index contracted 33.85 points to 10,371.83, the FBM ACE erased 18.37 points to 4,855.66, the FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 63.23 points to 10,767.09, and the FBM 70 declined 23.83 points to 12,751.83.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.35 points to 182.63, the Energy Index slipped 0.5 of-a-point to 652.53 and the Plantation Index went down 4.14 points to 7,121.13.
However, the Financial Services Index rose 22.46 points to 16,652.78.
The Main Market volume dwindled to 1.47 billion shares worth RM1.12 billion from 1.79 billion shares worth RM1.39 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 216.42 million units valued at RM38.20 million versus 258.51 million units valued at RM45.99 million.
The ACE Market volume decreased to 508.53 million shares worth RM168.52 million from 555.57 million shares worth RM187.25 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 139.22 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (540.73 million), construction (37.73 million), technology (262.51 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (38.86 million), property (94.10 million), plantation (21.27 million), REITs (7.61 million), closed/fund (2,800), energy (180.71 million), healthcare (68.62 million), telecommunications and media (38.40 million), transportation and logistics (26.30 million), and utilities (10.55 million). — Bernama
