Bursa M'sia ends lower
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia closed in the negative territory today on a continuous sell-off on most counters, as market sentiment was cautious ahead of the release of the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) results tomorrow.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 4.88 points, or 0.28%, to 1,718.11 from 1,722.99 on Wednesday.
The index opened 0.05 of-a-point better at 1,723.04 and moved between 1,716.97 and 1,725.72 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers led gainers by 693 to 254, with 362 counters unchanged, 546 untraded and 21 others suspended.
Volume, however, advanced to 2.44 billion units worth RM2.47 million from 2.34 billion units worth RM2.28 billion on Wednesday.
A dealer said investors shied away from taking any big bets ahead of the announcement of the third quarter GDP performance despite being widely expected to grow at a moderate pace of between 5.3% and 5.8% year-on-year.
"Trading on the local bourse remains tepid as it is hard sees any fresh catalyst to push the benchmark higher," he said.
Among heavyweights, Axiata eased 14 sen to RM5.18, CIMB fell eight sen to RM5.92, Genting Malaysia declined seven sen to RM4.93, IHH dropped five sen to RM5.59 and Digi was four sen weaker at RM4.68.
Of the actives, Trive Property and NetX eased half-a-sen each to eight sen and five sen, respectively, Sumatec was flat at 5.5 sen while Asia Bioenergy and Borneo Oil rose half-a-sen each at 21 sen and 9.5 sen, respectively.
Sam Engineering led the list of top losers, erasing 31 sen to RM7.35, followed by Aeon Credit and Dutch Lady which shed 30 sen each to RM13.72 and RM60.20, respectively, GeShen declined 29 sen to RM2.01 and Press Metal was 22 sen easier at RM4.65.
Sector-wise, the finance Index fell 58.63 points to 16,040.28 and the Plantation Index fell 13.47 points to 7,902.41.
The Industrial Index added 8.15 points to 3,167.82.
The FBM Emas Index lost 46.02 points to 12,403.98, FBMT 100 Index dropped 36.93 points to 12,054.12, FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 38.64 points to 12,859.82, FBM 70 was 57.22 points lower at 15,357.58 and the FBM Ace slumped 164.50 points to 6,524.40.
The Main Market volume narrowed to 1.59 billion units worth RM2.34 billion from Wednesday's 2.34 billion units worth RM2.28 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market widened to 584.14 million shares valued at RM99.78 million from 498.75 million shares valued at RM117.46 million previously.
Warrants' volume increased to 254.33 million units worth RM27.19 million against 233.89 million units worth RM28.83 million yesterday.
Consumer products accounted for 68.13 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (354.65 million), construction (86.74 million), trade and services (679.80 million), technology (199.61 million), infrastructure (15.23 million), SPAC (556,000), finance (46.27 million), hotels (2.07 million), properties (114.79 million), plantations (17.41 million), mining (10,000), REITs (8.45 million), and closed/fund (5,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5.00pm stood at RM165.87/g, down 98 sen from RM166.85 at 5.00pm yesterday. – Bernama