KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Bursa Malaysia reversed earlier gains to end marginally lower today on profit-taking, weighed by downbeat regional markets performance, an analyst said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.06 per cent or 0.93 of a point to 1,604.75 from Tuesday's close of 1,605.68.
The barometer index, which opened 1.28 points higher at 1,606.96, moved to a low of 1,602.29 during the afternoon session after hitting 1,610.25 in the morning trade.
On the broader market, decliners surpassed gainers 571 to 568, while 478 counters were unchanged, 712 untraded and 14 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 5.39 billion units worth RM3.57 billion compared to 5.42 billion units worth RM3.79 billion yesterday.
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said Asian equities were treading cautiously amid growing concerns over the looming economic challenges, which could potentially deflate the recent rally.
On the home front, he noted that the FBM KLCI is taking a breather following the recent rally, with mild profit-taking activities emerging.
"While I still see value in the Malaysian market, there is nothing wrong with taking some profits ahead of a potentially volatile upcoming week," he told Bernama.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank was down four sen to RM9.80, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare eased one sen each to RM4.20 and RM6.30, respectively, CIMB lost seven sen to RM6.74, and Tenaga Nasional fell eight sen to RM12.40.
As for the actives, BCM Alliance and TWL rose half-a-sen to 1.5 sen and three sen, respectively, MYEG put on 6.5 sen to 98.5 sen, Top Glove perked up 2.5 sen to 92 sen, Techna-X was flat at one sen, while Classita eased half-a-sen to four sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index increased 9.37 points to 12,107.84, the FBMT 100 Index advanced 11.55 points to 11,727.40, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 34.69 points to 12,337.57.
The FBM 70 Index soared 92.26 points to 17,005.89 and the FBM ACE Index garnered 48.16 points to 5,136.05.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 49.12 points to 17,475.96, the Industrial Products and Services Index edged up 0.38 of-a-point to 192.92, the Plantation Index jumped 61.21 points to 7,500.86, and the Energy Index ticked up 5.30 points to 981.31.
The Main Market volume declined to 2.85 billion units worth RM3.09 billion from 3.99 billion units worth RM3.41 billion on Tuesday.
Warrants turnover advanced to 1.16 billion units worth RM173.58 million versus 796.35 million units worth RM117.88 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume surged to 1.38 billion shares valued at RM307.42 million against 627.42 million shares valued at RM263.14 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 514.24 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (431.46 billion), construction (287.84 million), technology (451.98 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (109.71 million), property (358.52 million), plantation (41.54 million), REITs (33.37 million), closed/fund (99,300), energy (301.52 million), healthcare (146.95 million), telecommunications and media (37.12 million), transportation and logistics (60.62 million), utilities (78.45 million), and business trusts (1.26 million). — Bernama
