KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower for a second consecutive day today with the key index falling 0.92 per cent, as sentiment turned jittery with investors trimming their positions ahead of the 15th General Election (GE15), said a dealer.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 13.46 points to end at 1,450.54 compared to yesterday’s close of 1,464.00.
The market bellwether opened 2.49 points easier at 1,461.51, its intraday low, and hit its day’s high of 1,447.87 in the early morning session.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 541 to 332, while 376 counters were unchanged, 1,076 untraded, and 13 others suspended.
Turnover eased to 2.78 billion units valued at RM1.68 billion versus 2.80 billion units valued at RM1.57 billion yesterday.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong expects the cautious sentiment to linger towards the end of the week as investors may adopt the wait-and-see approach until the outcome of the GE15.
At the same time, the focus would also be centred on the ongoing quarterly reporting season, he told Bernama.
“We noticed that the healthcare sector (-2.3 per cent) snapped a seven-day winning streak to underperform the most in a negatively broader market as profit-taking activities kicked in.
“Technically, the FBM KLCI’s immediate resistance is spotted at 1,465, while the near-term support is seen at 1,440,” said Leong.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng reckons the selldown over the past few days offers buying opportunity for investors amid the strong inflow of foreign funds.
Hence, Thong anticipates the FBM KLCI to trend within the 1,450 to 1,480 range for the week with immediate resistance at 1,470 and support at 1,420.
On the bourse, heavyweights Maybank slipped nine sen to RM8.50, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.37, Petronas Chemicals dropped 10 sen to RM8.62, CIMB fell eight sen to RM5.41, and IHH Healthcare shed three sen to RM5.96.
Among the actives, Advance Synergy declined 1.5 sen to 12.5 sen, Top Glove shed five sen to 97 sen, KNM Group gained 1.5 sen to 6.5 sen, while both Borneo Oil and XOX were flat at two sen and 2.5 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Shariah Index was down by 76.41 points to 10,443.97, the FBM Emas Index dipped 79.50 points to 10,315.67, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 83.02 points to 10,044.97, the FBM 70 declined 60.90 points to 12,304.57, while the FBM ACE improved 3.09 points to 5,013.12.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 117.19 points to 16,171.73, the Industrial Products and Services Index fell 0.48 of-a-point to 178.66, and the Energy Index slipped 6.32 points to 725.43, and the Plantation Index climbed 29.10 points to 6,931.46.
The Main Market volume decreased to 1.82 billion shares worth RM1.44 billion from 1.85 billion shares worth RM1.31 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover declined to 424.43 million units valued at RM71.52 million from 427.98 million units valued at RM82.36 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume increased to 538.95 million shares worth RM165.33 million from 519.70 million shares worth RM171.71 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 467.83 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (444.47 million); construction (47.50 million); technology (133.53 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (59.46 million); property (146.62 million); plantation (11.39 million); REITs (5.27 million), closed/fund (3,000); energy (160.05 million); healthcare (242.79 million); telecommunications and media (18.92 million); transportation and logistics (64.13 million); and utilities (13.88 million). — Bernama
