KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today, tracking the heavy selling on regional markets as investors were concerned over the release of weak western economic data while the drought-driven power shortages in China added to the industry woes in the republic.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 15.31 points or 1.03 per cent to end at 1,467.26 compared with yesterday’s closing of 1,482.57.
The benchmark index opened 1.53 points higher at 1,484.10 this morning and moved between 1,464.83 and 1,487.97 throughout the day.
On the broader market, decliners beat gainers 522 to 349, while 390 counters were unchanged, 1,071 untraded, and seven others suspended.
Total turnover rose to 2.88 billion units worth RM1.72 billion from 2.03 billion units worth RM1.55 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local market was heavily impacted by increasing regional and global risks and uncertainties.
“We reckon that sentiment will remain jittery for the moment although bargain hunting may prevail given the attractive valuations of local equities, hence, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend sideways within the 1,460-1,480 region for the remainder of the week,” he told Bernama.
From a technical point of view, we spotted the immediate support at 1,460 and resistance at 1,500.
Meanwhile, Malacca Securities in a note said the decline in today’s trading was due to persistent concerns ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting and investors may react negatively if the US Federal Reserve turned more hawkish going forward.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.49 per cent to 28,313.47, South Korea’s Kospi improved 0.50 per cent to 2,447.45 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 1.20 per cent to 19,268.74.
Among the heavyweights, Public Bank perked up one sen at RM4.61, CIMB Group rose 8.0 sen to RM5.36, while Maybank declined two sen to RM8.81, Petronas Chemicals was six sen easier at RM8.50, and IHH Healthcare went down 12 sen at RM6.22.
Of the actives, Metronic earned half-a-sen at 6.5 sen, Serba Dimanik lost 3.5 sen to 4.5 sen, Euro Holdings erased half-a-sen to 12.5 sen, and Techna-X was flat at 3.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE Index dipped 16.83 points to 4,874.97, FBMT 100 Index fell 87.20 points to 10,190.33, FBM Emas Shariah Index shed 144.80 points to 10,503.82, FBM 70 eased 30.87 points to 12,601.0, while the FBM Emas Index slid 82.61 points to 10,450.35.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index gained 12.35 points to 16,550.95, Plantation Index lost 199.02 points to 6,860.83, Industrial Products and Services Index erased 0.53 of-a-point to 179.89, while the Energy Index fell 5.69 points to 707.19.
The Main Market volume improved to 2.11 billion shares worth RM1.5 billion from 1.33 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion yesterday.
Warrants’ turnover expanded to 420.03 million units valued at RM59.27 million from 367.06 million units valued at RM59.58 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume grew to 344.52 million shares worth RM146.23 million from 321.66 million shares worth RM166.68 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 425.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (511.0 million), construction (64.23 million), technology (138.72 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (40.6 million), property (74.57 million), plantation (42.69 million), REITs (5.95 million), closed/fund (nil), energy (646.79 million), healthcare (68.46 million), telecommunications and media (67.28 million), transportation and logistics (20.45 million), and utilities (12.40 million). — Bernama
