Bursa Malaysia closes lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on the back of the weakening ringgit and tracking the regional peers after China's Central Bank devalued its yuan by two per cent, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 17.66 points to 1,636.71 after moving between 1,635.77 and 1,661.62 throughout the day.
A dealer said the Asian shares erased earlier gains following positive lead from Wall Street's overnight rally as investors weighed China's surprised move to allow its currency to fall against the US dollar to boost export.
Japan's Nikkei 225 weakened 0.42% to 20,720.75, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.09% to 24,498.25, Singapore's Straits Times fell 1.3% to 3,154.98 and South Korea's Kospi eased 0.82% to 1,986.
On the local scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index declined 109.35 points to 11,255.60, FBMT100 Index fell 110.87 points to 10,965.62 and the FBM Syariah dropped 77.84 points to 11,692.89.
The FBM 70 went down 94.5 points to 12,091.88 and the FBM Ace slipped 33.92 points to 5,759.28.
On a sectoral basis, the Finance Index lost 242.93 points to 14,705.21, Plantation Index fell 25.86 points to 7,154.67 and the Industrial Index declined 33.72 points to 3,132.53.
Losers led gainers by 529 to 290, with 346 counters unchanged, 633 untraded and 19 others suspended.
Total volume rose to 1.99 billion units valued at RM2.07 billion from 1.91 billion units valued at RM1.99 billion yesterday.
Among actives, IFCA MSC added two sen to 79 sen, KNM gained three sen to 56.5 sen and Frontken improved half-a-sen to 56.5 sen.
Asia Media fell half-a-sen to two sen and The Media Shoppe was flat at 13.5 sen.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank declined 28 sen to RM8.52, Public Bank fell 16 sen to RM18.72 and Sime Darby shed 24 sen to RM8.16.
Axiata added one sen to RM5.97 and TNB was flat at RM11.
Main Market volume fell to 1.05 billion units worth RM1.84 billion against Monday's 1.10 million units worth RM1.81 billion.
Turnover on the ACE Market decreased to 328.78 million shares valued at RM83.44 million from 336.85 million shares valued at RM73.48 million previously.
Warrants increased to 608.72 million units worth RM146.85 million from 471.87 million units worth RM103.63 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 75.77 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (266.4 million), construction (68.88 million), trade and services (384.32 million), technology (69.56 million), infrastructure (12.81 million), SPAC (14.41 million), finance (71.28 million), hotels (847,500), properties (59.91 million), plantations (11 million), mining (15,000), REITs (13.05 million), and closed/fund (6,000). – Bernama