KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today amid mixed sentiment on regional markets, as profit-taking set in on selected heavyweights after their recent gains, dealers said.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.18 points to end at 1,504.01 compared with Friday’s close of 1,506.19.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.23 of-a-point higher at 1,506.42 this morning, moved between 1,503.02 and 1,510.11 throughout the trading session.
Market breadth was also negative as losers beat gainers 496 to 319, while 442 counters were unchanged, 1,020 untraded, and 18 others suspended.
Total turnover increased to 2.54 billion units worth RM1.73 billion from 2.08 billion units worth RM1.63 billion on Friday.
Maybank and Sime Darby Plantation were among the biggest contributors to the losses in composite index, declining 6.0 sen and 8.0 sen to RM8.91 and RM4.56, contributing a combined 2.16 points.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI closed marginally lower amid the heavy selling on glove stocks.
“Regionally, the key indices ended broadly lower partly due to the continuing geopolitical tensions in the region amid the US-China spat over Taiwan,” he told Bernama today.
As for the local bourse, he said heavy selling on glove stocks due to falling average selling prices saw both Hartalega and Top Glove losing about 7.0 per cent each.
“We believe the selling is overdone as share prices of both stocks have fallen to far below their pre-pandemic levels. Nonetheless, the FBM KLCI remained well supported above the 1,500 level, thanks to foreign buying particularly on telecommunications, utilities and plantation stocks.
“As such we anticipate the benchmark index to trend slightly higher for the week and hover in the region of 1,500-1,520. Technically, we spot the immediate resistance at 1,510 followed by 1,530, while support is at 1,480,” he added.
Among other heavyweights, Public Bank added 1.0 sen to RM4.66, TNB gained 9.0 sen to RM8.72, Petronas Chemicals slipped 2.0 sen to RM8.78, while both IHH Healthcare and CIMB were flat at RM6.49 and RM5.43, respectively.
Of the actives, Top Glove fell 6.0 sen to 79.5 sen, Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 5.0 sen, while DNex and Borneo Oil were both flat at 89 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBMT 100 Index eased 21.84 points to 10,405.77, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shaved off 20.79 points to 10,769.54, the FBM 70 lost 53.99 points to 12,707.40, the FBM ACE advanced 22.72 points to 4,959.46, while the FBM Emas Index slipped 22.64 points to 10,660.54.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 49.78 points to 16,777.83, the Plantation Index dipped 35.25 points to 7,161.56, the Industrial Products and Services Index trimmed 0.94 of-a-point to 183.10, and the Energy Index edged down 5.70 points to 657.42.
The Main Market volume increased to 1.80 billion shares worth RM1.48 billion from 1.43 billion shares worth RM1.43 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover expanded to 327.27 million units valued at RM46.61 million versus 246.16 million units valued at RM37.6 million previously.
The ACE Market volume improved to 421.02 million shares worth RM205.61 million from 411.41 million shares worth RM161.72 million last Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 176.64 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (473.02 million), construction (25.51 million), technology (272.81 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (43.70 million), property (121.76 million), plantation (26.44 million), REITs (6.10 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (262.14 million), healthcare (311.33 million), telecommunications and media (34.88 million), transportation and logistics (26.70 million), and utilities (14.98 million). — Bernama
