KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today, joining the global selldown on equities after the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) hiked interest rates to curb rampant inflation.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 8.02 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 1,439.16 from yesterday’s close of 1,447.18.
The benchmark index opened 2.31 points lower at 1,444.87, subsequently moving between 1,435.76 and 1,448.51 throughout the session.
On the broader market, decliners led gainers 447 to 372, while 424 counters were unchanged, 1,147 untraded, and nine others suspended.
Total turnover fell to 2.17 billion units worth RM1.68 billion compared with 2.34 billion units worth RM1.66 billion yesterday.
The local bourse extended yesterday’s loss to open lower today and stayed mostly in negative territory throughout the trading session with the sentiment remaining cautious after the 75-basis point interest rate hikes by the Fed.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key indices regionally also closed lower following broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight.
“Sentiment took an additional hit from Russia’s escalation of its war with Ukraine.
“Back home, we believe the short-term market sentiment will remain cautious with greater volatility due to uncertainties in global equities.
“We reckon the FBM KLCI will see some headwinds as the support at 1,450 has been broken, and the next support level will be at 1,430 followed by 1,400 while resistance is at 1,480,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.58 per cent to 27,153.83, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.61 per cent to 18,147.95, and South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.63 per cent to 2,332.31. Shanghai’s SSE index slid 0.27 per cent to 3,108.91 while Singapore’s Straits Times Index was 0.04 per cent better at 3,263.24.
Back home among Bursa heavyweights, Maybank shed two sen to RM8.71, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.39, and Petronas Chemicals dropped 11 sen to RM8.50. CIMB declined seven sen to RM5.38 and IHH Healthcare fell 10 sen to RM6.
Of the actives, Top Glove slid 1.5 sen to 63 sen, Vinvest reduced four sen to 19 sen, RGB International improved one sen to 14 sen, and Ecoscience perked up 1.5 sen to 31.5 sen while Sapura Energy was flat at four sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index went down 36.54 points to 10,293.55, the FBMT 100 Index lost 38.38 points to 10,032.25, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 31.67 points to 10,358.22.
The FBM ACE bagged 40.53 points to 4,818.65 and the FBM 70 gained 21.75 points to 12,554.30.
Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 5.71 points easier at 719.87, the Plantation Index shed 1.13 points to 6,844.69, the Financial Services Index shrank 65.40 points to 16,334.45 and the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 1.44 points to 174.24.
The Main Market volume decreased to 1.29 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion from 1.59 billion shares worth RM1.40 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover expanded to 232.67 million units valued at RM34.08 million from 224.96 million units valued at RM34.11 million previously.
The ACE Market volume rose to 646.22 million shares worth RM320.02 million from 528.82 million shares worth RM227.60 million yesterday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 232.42 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (322.66 million), construction (30.96 million), technology (86.17 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (57.01 million), property (96.09 million), plantation (18.47 million), REITs (8.38 million), closed/fund (6,000), energy (225.88 million), healthcare (133.37 million), telecommunications and media (23.30 million), transportation and logistics (39.72 million) and utilities (13.50 million). — Bernama
