KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Bursa Malaysia ended trading lower Monday in tandem with the heavy selldown in regional bourses as investors were wary following the sudden burst of turmoil in the global banking sector, said an analyst.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 9.92 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 1,401.81 from Friday’s close of 1,411.73.
The market bellwether opened 3.55 points easier at 1,408.18 and moved between 1,400.49 and 1,408.52 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative with decliners trouncing gainers 653 to 275, while 338 counters were unchanged, 996 untraded and 16 others suspended.
Turnover dipped to 3.47 billion units worth RM1.93 billion against 4.43 billion units worth RM4.09 billion recorded last Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said concerns over a possible global banking crisis remained tenacious despite the implementation of emergency liquidity measures and bank consolidations in the United States (US) and Europe.
"Investors are now cautiously awaiting more cues on monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve meeting this week. On the domestic front, sentiments may also be cautious in view of external factors, nevertheless, we believe the FBM KLCI has been extremely oversold,” he told Bernama.
Thong said bargain hunting may set in and expects the benchmark index to trend slightly higher within the 1,400-1,410 range for the week.
"On a technical point of view, the immediate support is spotted at 1,400, followed by 1,370 while resistance is at 1,420,” he added.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 1.48 per cent to 3,136.17, Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.42 per cent 26,945.67, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 2.65 per cent to 19,000.71, while China’s SSE Composite Index slipped 0.48 per cent to 3,234,91.
Back home, Bursa Malaysia’s heavyweights, IHH Healthcare gained two sen to RM5.84, CelcomDigi jumped 10 sen to RM4.15, Hong Leong Bank was flat at RM20.10, Maybank decreased four sen to RM8.34, Public Bank fell two sen to RM3.95, and Petronas Chemicals lost 23 sen to RM7.
Among the actives, Green Packet perked up half-a-sen to 5.5 sen, Niche Capital climbed four sen to 17.5 sen, Zen Tech was flat at three sen, Hong Seng Consolidated slid half-a-sen to 14 sen, and Top Glove eased one sen to 90.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index sank 87.29 points to 10,249.11, the FBM 70 Index fell 153.76 points to 13,211.89, and the FBMT 100 Index dipped 81.37 points to 9,947.51.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index went down 80.93 points to 10,586.31 and the FBM ACE Index lost 30.21 points to 5,218.73.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 85.69 points easier at 15,454.02, the Energy Index gave up 37.65 points to 785.21, the Plantation Index decreased by 91.85 points to 6,780.47, and the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 2.51 points to 167.54.
The Main Market volume shrank to 2.28 billion shares worth RM1.66 billion against Friday’s 2.90 billion shares worth RM3.69 billion.
Warrants turnover expanded to 550.98 million units worth RM86.67 million from 499.27 million units worth RM77.84 million previously.
The ACE Market volume dwindled to 633.67 million shares worth RM182.64 million from 1.03 billion shares worth RM320.82 million on Friday.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 475.24 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (488.38 million); construction (45.28 million); technology (291.39 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (127.76 million); property (91.11 million); plantation (25.12 million); REITs (15.94 million), closed/fund (5,000); energy (22.24 million); healthcare (194.19 million); telecommunications and media (196.14 million); transportation and logistics (64.49 million); and utilities (46.19 million). — Bernama
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