Bursa Malaysia closes slightly lower in lacklustre trading

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended slightly lower today in lacklustre trading amid the absence of clear market drivers, dealers said.

At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 0.71 of a point to 1,698.98, after fluctuating between 1,696.72 and 1,702.36 throughout the day.

A dealer said the market was trading sideways throughout the day, dampened by resurgence in concerns over weak global and China's economic growth.

The weak commodity prices also weighed on the near-term local sentiment, he said.

On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index climbed 17.101 points to 11,755.12, FBMT100 Index added 11.81 points to 11,427.5 and the FBM Syariah expanded 27.21 points to 12,231.38.

The FBM 70 jumped 74.55 points to 12,767.03 and the FBM Ace chalked up 59.45 points to 6,320.38.

On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index added 4.88 points to 15,293.03, Plantation Index went up 19.98 points to 7,338.92 and the Industrial Index climbed 7.38 points to 3,166.95.

Gainers beat losers by 444 to 371, with 313 counters unchanged, 691 untraded and 33 others suspended.

Total volume fell to 1.36 billion units valued at RM1.73 billion from 2.14 billion units valued at RM2.25 billion yesterday.
Among actives, Ikhmas Jaya rose 3.5 sen to 77.5 sen, Pesona Metro gained 2.5 sen to 59.5 sen, Metronic earned half-a-sen to 8.5 sen, SKP Resources added one sen to RM1.52 and BTM Resources climbed 1.5 sen to 35 sen.

Of the heavyweights, Maybank lost two sen to RM9.06, TNB fell 10 sen to RM12.14 and Sime Darby declined nine sen to RM8.42.

Public Bank added six sen to RM18.84. Axiata was flat at RM6.30.

Main Market volume fell to 966.49 million units worth RM1.61 billion from 1.36 billion units worth RM2.03 billion on Monday.

Turnover on the ACE Market declined to 118.1 million shares valued at RM46.76 million from 325.70 million shares valued at RM80.41 million yesterday.

Warrants contracted to 213.68 million units worth RM67.95 million from 414.87 million units worth RM138.58 million previously.

Consumer products accounted for 108.16 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (212.61 million), construction (126.15 million), trade and services (340.26 million), technology (46.33 million), infrastructure (13.77 million), SPAC (5.76 million), finance (36.5 million), hotels (825,400), properties (46.94 million), plantations (17.07 million), mining (nil), REITs (12.05 million), and closed/fund (18,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM129.96 per gramme, down four sen from RM130.00 at 5pm yesterday. – Bernama