Bursa Malaysia ends marginally lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday's gains to close slightly lower on profit-taking in selected bluechips and heavyweights, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 0.33 of-a-point to 1,677.43, after fluctuating between 1,673.18 and 1,677.44 throughout the day.
Market breadth was weaker with 421 losers and 334 gainers, while 408 counters were unchanged, 516 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Volume fell to 1.43 billion units valued at RM1.8 billion from 1.64 billion units worth RM1.69 billion recorded on Monday.
Dealers said the negative sentiment on the local bourse was in line with the mixed performance on regional markets due to weak economic data from South Korea.
The fourth largest economy in Asia reported a slower third-quarter growth as its economy only registered 2.7 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Among regional bourses, Singapore's Straits Times was 0.09 per cent lower at 2,854.05, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.17 per cent to 23,565.11 and South Korea's Seoul Composite index went down 0.52 per cent at 2,037.17.
Back home, an analyst said the downside pressure on the benchmark index still persisted, weighed by the decline in crude oil prices and uncertainties over a US interest rate hike.
"The FBM KLCI is likely to trade above the 1,679.11 level," Alliance DBS said in a note.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga and HLBank gained two sen each to RM14.36 and RM13.32 respectively, Maybank added 17 sen to RM7.90, Public Bank fell four sen to RM19.78 and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.44.
Maxis slipped 20 sen to RM6.00, BAT lost RM1 to RM49.24.
Of the gainers, Bintulu increased 38 sen to RM6.76, UMS Holdings rose 20 sen to RM2.85 and Teck Guan improved 11 sen to RM2.03.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 15.98 points to 11,830.01, FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 46.02 points to 12,429.76, FBMT100 Index lost 14.78 points to 11,529.23 and the FBM 70 shed 63.07 points to 13,787.73.
The FBM Ace was 37.97 points higher at 5,172.29.
On a sectoral basis, the Plantation Index declined 21.85 points to 7,924.99, Industrial Index slipped 6.57 points to 3,157.74 while the Finance Index surged 85.15 points to 14,570.46.
Main Market turnover rose to 952.63 million units worth RM1.76 billion from 948.32 million units worth RM1.56 billion on Monday.
The ACE Market volume shrank to 214.75 million shares valued at RM36.73 million from 422.99 million shares valued at RM78.58 million previously.
Warrants declined to 254.87 million units worth RM38.51 million from 260.95 million units worth RM51.62 million on Monday.
Consumer products accounted for 76.77 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (255.15 million), construction (44.65 million), trade and services (306.02 million), technology (43.87 million), infrastructure (12.54 million), SPAC (21.50 million), finance (71.83 million), hotels (134,300), properties (67.42 million), plantations (37.85 million), mining (40,000), REITs (14.74 million) and closed/fund (71,600).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM164.21 per gramme, up two sen from RM164.19 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama