Bursa Malaysia ends lower on profit-taking
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower, across the board in range bound trading, after yesterday's stronger close, dealers said.
Profit taking emerged throughout the day to trim earlier gains.
At the close, the key FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.33 points lower at 1,855.99, after moving between 1,852.96 and 1,861.10 throughout the day.
It opened 1.94 points lower at 1,855.38 from Monday's close of 1,857.32
On the broader market, losers led gainers by 556 to 408 with 346 counters unchanged, 582 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Volume decreased to 2.28 billion units worth RM2.10 billion from 2.36 billion shares, worth RM1.89 billion on Monday.
A dealer said the local bourse was tracking the lacklustre performance on Asian equities which had broadly declined on profit-taking following the wide gains on Monday.
The market lacked catalysts in the absence of leads from US and China and amid weak cues from Europe, which led to subdued activity and sentiment, he said.
Attention had turned to the US Federal Reserve minutes of the Jan 30-31 meeting which is expected on Wednesday to assess the outlook for rate tightening, he added.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.01% to 21,925.10, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.78% to 30,873.63, South Korea's Kospi reduced 1.13% to 2,415.12 and Singapore Straits Times Index slid 0.38% to 3,474.71.
Of heavyweights, Public Bank rose 10 sen to RM22.08, CIMB Group added three sen to RM7.12, Tenaga shed two sen to RM15.72 sen while Maybank and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM10.14 and RM8.10, respectively.
Among actives, Sino Hua-An and AirAsia X added half-a-sen each to 56.5 sen and 40 sen respectively, Hibiscus warrant shed one sen to eight sen, PUC eased half-a-sen to 27.5 sen and Sumatec was flat at eight sen.
The FBM Emas Index slipped 16.20 points to 13,250.80, the FBMT 100 Index reduced 15.64 points to 12,953.95, the FBM Emas Syariah Index fell 29.40 points to 13,575.32 and the FBM Ace dropped 74.27 points to 6,334.33.
The FBM 70 decreased 41.24 points to 16,264.05.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index was 1.59 points higher at 17,781.81, the Plantation Index improved 12.33 points to 8,060.44 while the Industrial Index slipped 35.26 points to 3,242.98.
The Main Market volume decreased to 1.30 billion units, worth RM1.90 billion, compared with 1.37 billion units, worth RM1.69 million, recorded on Monday.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 297.30 million shares, valued at RM63.18 million, from 459.29 million shares, worth RM110.72 million, transacted yesterday.
Warrants' volume was higher at 670.29 million units, worth RM139.41 million, from Monday's 518.40 million units valued at RM84.66 million.
Consumer products accounted for 64.97 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (386.79 million), construction (56.44 million), trade and services (581.63 million), technology (58.02 million), infrastructure (4.42 million), SPAC (3.60 million), finance (43.53 million), hotels (284,600), properties (59.25 million), plantations (31.52 million), mining (161,000), REITs (12.23 million), and closed/fund (nil).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM162.29 per gramme, down 66 sen from RM162.95 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama