Bursa Malaysia ends lower on profit-taking
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower today on profit-taking in selected blue-chips and heavyweights, dealers said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.41 points to 1,788.90, after fluctuating between 1,785.25 and 1,793.39 throughout the day.
The key index opened 0.82 of-a-point higher at 1,792.13.
Market breadth was weak with losers led gainers by 714 to 231, while 305 counters were unchanged, 543 untraded and 31 others were suspended.
Volume fell to 1.93 billion units valued at RM1.89 billion from two billion units valued at RM2.93 billion last Friday.
Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd Research Head, Pong Teng Siew, said the downside pressure on the benchmark index still persisted, weighed by the decline in crude oil prices and uncertainties in the US technology stocks.
He said the decline in US technology stocks was led by Apple and Alphabet, as investors moved away from what was the year's best-performing sector and rotated portfolios into stocks that pay higher dividends amid some signs of US economic weakness.
"Technology-related stocks on Bursa Malaysia fell after a sell-off in Apple and other technology heavyweights also dragged the stocks down," he told Bernama.
Of the regional bourses, Singapore's Straits Times was 0.40% higher at 3,244.32, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.94% to 25,868.02 and South Korea's Seoul Composite index went up 0.38% at 2,370.90.
Pong said going forward the local equity market would remain cautious as the temptation among investors was still to look out for profits.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.63 and TNB and Public Bank fell six sen each to RM14.38 and RM20.34, respectively.
Axiata added eight sen to RM5.07, Digi increased five sen to RM5.00 and IHH Healthcare rose one sen to RM5.98.
Among actives, Netx and Nexgram were lower half-a-sen each to 5.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, Asia Bioenergy was flat at 16.5 sen and FGV rose eight sen to RM1.84.
The FBM Emas Index lost 35.47 points to 12,716.36, FBMT 100 Index slipped 30.55 points to 12,361.92 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was down 37.98 points to 12,941.13.
The FBM 70 declined 89.64 points to 15,050.12 and the FBM Ace was 167.42 points lower at 6,174.98.
The Finance Index fell 57.16 points to 16,851.48, Plantation Index decreased 33.36 points to 7,983.61 and the Industrial Index was 2.73 points higher at 3,285.60.
Main Market turnover was higher at 1.93 billion units worth RM1.89 billion from Friday's 1.19 billion units worth RM2.82 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 569.76 million shares valued at RM84.89 million from 579.17 million shares valued at RM75.798 million previously.
Warrants rose to 227.71 million units worth RM24.51 million from 215.16 million units worth RM27.71 million on Friday.
Consumer products accounted for 70.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (282.14 million), construction (91.62 million), trade and services (401.11 million), technology (32.34 million), infrastructure (9.78 million), SPAC (420,000), finance (60.92 million), hotels (940,300), properties (109.51 million), plantations (41.27 million), mining (0), REITs (7.45 million) and closed/fund (0). — Bernama
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM166.39 per gramme, down 53 sen from RM166.92 at 5pm last friday. — Bernama