Bursa ends lower on profit-taking in heavyweights

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed lower today on profit-taking in most of the heavyweights amid mixed sentiments in Asian markets, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) lost 5.96 points, or 0.33%, to 1,772.51 after fluctuating between 1,770.06 and 1,784.79 throughout the day.
The index opened 0.41 of-a-point higher at 1,778.88.
Market breadth was negative with losers outpacing gainers 535 to 391, while 391 counters were unchanged, 432 untraded and 17 others suspended.
Volume, however, widened to 3.90 billion units worth RM3.04 billion from 3.88 billion units worth RM3.48 billion on Tuesday.
A dealer said profit-taking activities were seen as investors took a pause from the market after recent gains.
Yesterday, stocks on Bursa Malaysia finished at 1,778.47, touching the highest level in over-a year or since April 15, 2016.
Besides, he said investors were also cautious over the outcome of the two-day US Federal Reserve (Fed) policy meeting, due later today, and the release of the April US non-farm payrolls report later in the week.
"Many have expected the Fed would raise the interest rate in June," he said.
Regionally, China's Shanghai Composite Index down 0.27% to 3,135.35, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.50% to 5,647.37, while Singapore's Straits Times was 0.74% higher at 3,234.74.
It was reported that Hong Kong and South Korean markets were closed for the Buddha's birthday holiday today, and the Japanese market is shut from Wednesday until Friday for the annual Golden Week holiday. Among heavyweights, Petronas Chemicals and Genting Malaysia slid 13 sen to RM7.15 and RM5.86, respectively, CIMB Group eased seven sen to RM5.81, IOI Corp shed eight sen to RM4.51, and Public Bank was 10 sen lower at RM20.14.
Of the actives, Key Alliance, AirAsia X and XOX inched down one sen each to five sen, 47 sen and 13 sen, respectively, while Dataprep rose 12 sen to 55 sen and Anzo edged up one sen to 31.5 sen. Poly Glass, which hit its limit-up level of 30 sen and reached 90.5 sen at midday today, settled at 88 sen at the close.
The FBM Emas Index lost 40.29 points to 12,670.01, the FBMT100 Index dropped 40.80 points to 12,293.93 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 28.34 points lower at 12,971.54.
The FBM 70 gave up 48.20 points to 15,138.01 and the FBM Ace declined 22.40 points to 6,251.15.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index erased 52.38 points to 16,419.53, the Plantation Index shed 36.60 points to 8,031.46, but the Industrial Index was 8.13 points higher at 3,248.41.
Main Market turnover rose to 2.67 billion units worth RM2.86 billion from 2.55 billion units worth RM3.29 billion on Tuesday.
Volume on the ACE Market improved to 957.84 million shares valued at RM149.75 million from 942.33 million shares valued at RM154.47 million previously.
However, warrants narrowed to 252.14 million units valued at RM27.73 million from 355.59 million units valued at RM40.55 million on Tuesday.
Consumer products accounted for 142.17 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (606.98 million), construction (154.60 million), trade and services (997.31 million), technology (314.22 million), infrastructure (12.23 million), SPAC (1.28 million ), finance (98.44 million), hotels (2.34 million), properties (293.88 million), plantations (38.32 million), mining (0), REITs (11.77 million), and closed/fund (37,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM168.40 per gramme, down 53 sen from RM168.93 at 5pm yesterday. — bernama