Bursa Malaysia ends on softer note
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended Friday on a weaker note on persistent selling in heavyweights, despite the uptrend on Asian bourses, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 6.33 points to 1,769.17 after moving between 1,764.07 and 1,773.69 throughout the day.
The index opened 3.4 points lower at 1,772.10 from Thursday's close of 1,775.50.
Market breadth was negative, with losers outpacing gainers by 545 to 323, with 367 counters unchanged, 605 untraded and 37 others were suspended.
Volume fell to 2.0 billion units worth RM1.94 billion from 2.1 billion units worth RM1.98 billion recorded yesterday.
A dealer said despite the mostly higher Asian markets today, the local bourse's performance was weaker due to cautious trading, pending the outcome of the annual meeting of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in the US.
"The softer performance was in line with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 28.69 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 21,783.40, and Standard & Poor's 500 index, which fell 5.07 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,438.97," the dealer said.
He added that the fall in the key index was also due to persistent selling ahead of the weekend, especially in trade/services-related stocks.
Heavyweights, Genting Malaysia fell 23 sen to RM5.82, IHH and Sime Darby dropped 10 sen each to RM5.91 and RM9.13, respectively, while construction stock IJM Corp gave up 11 sen to RM3.35.
These stocks collectively contributed 5.575 points to the fall in the Composite Index.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank fell one sen to RM9.56, Tenaga and Public Bank rose two sen each to RM14.30 and RM20.58, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM7.18.
Of the actives, Palette Multimedia rose 3.5 sen to 14.5 sen, Frontken added two sen to 36 sen and AirAsia X and Mlabs were both flat at 39 sen and 24 sen, respectively.
The FBM Emas Index declined 35.65 points to 12,608.00, FBM Emas Shariah Index decreased 42.49 points to 12,797.51 and the FBMT 100 Index erased 33.23 points to 12,266.19.
The FBM 70 inched down 0.92 of-a-point to 15,086.63 but the FBM Ace was 21.09 points higher at 6,666.57.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index fell 14.83 points to 7,861.04, Finance eased 6.42 points to 16,693.20 and the Industrial Index was down by 14.93 points to 3,217.76.
Main Market volume fell to 1.10 billion shares worth RM1.76 billion from 1.23 billion shares worth RM1.77 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market rose to 717.91 million units valued at RM146.32 million from 680.36 million units valued at RM179.49 million.
Warrants increased to 180.87 million shares worth RM24.30 million from 172.02 million shares worth RM24.96 million.
Consumer products accounted for 53.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (248.72 million), construction (67.81 million), trade and services (512.80 million), technology (45.42 million), infrastructure (5.82 million), SPAC (491,000), finance (54.81 million), hotels (389,500), properties (65.18 million), plantations (31.22 million), mining (199,100), REITs (6.87 million), and closed/fund (16,900).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM170.99 per gramme, down 37 sen from RM171.36 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama