Weak sentiment drags FBM KLCI to 9-month low

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia edged lower today with the key index closing at a nine-month low as weak market sentiment curbed investors risk appetite regionally, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) finished at 1,714.42, down 5.44 points from yesterday's close of 1,719.86.
The market bellwether, which opened 3.74 points lower at 1,716.12, moved in the red territory throughout the day.
Selling was mostly spotted in bluechips, led by Genting Bhd, and small capitalisation stocks.
Genting dragged the composite index down by 1.245 points. The stock fell 19 sen to RM9.00 with 4.54 million shares changing hands.
The overall market breadth was weaker, in tandem with regional peers, with losers thumping gainers 613 to 286, 370 counters were unchanged, 603 untraded and 83 others suspended.
Volume improved to 1.8 billion units worth RM2.1 billion from Monday's 1.64 billion units valued at RM1.78 billion.
A dealer said sentiment in the Asian market was weighed by continuous sell-offs in Chinese stocks as investors digest the impact of sweeping new guidelines to reduce risks in the country's asset management business.
He said the weaker oil prices, which fell ahead of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meeting in Vienna, Austria on Thursday, also partly contributed to the day's downtrend.
Regionally, Japan's Nikkei 225 was slightly lower by 0.04% to 22,486.24, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.02% to 29,680.82, while Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.17% to 3,442.35 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.25% to 2,514.19.
Among heavyweights, Tenaga and Public Bank eased two sen each to RM14.98 and RM20.28 respectively, CIMB shed four sen to RM5.93, while both Maybank and Sime Darby were flat at RM9.20 and RM8.94, respectively.
Petronas Chemicals, however, bagged seven sen to RM7.38.
Of the actives, Trive Property, China Stationery, Hubline, PUC and Borneo Oil inched down half-a-sen each to six sen, 1.5 sen, 11 sen, 20 sen and nine sen respectively, while Hibiscus trimmed 4.5 sen to 71.5 sen.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index fell 43.61 points to 12,363.9, FBMT 100 Index declined 38.53 points to 12,022.48, FBM Emas Syariah Index decreased 29.19 points to 12,842.72, the FBM 70 Index lost 50.31 points to 15,296.14, and the FBM Ace erased 58.83 points to 6,337.33.
FBM SCap slid 134.62 points to RM16,801.09.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index gave up 36.39 points to 15,898.064, Plantation Index trimmed 11.87 points to 7,868.88 while the Industrial Index shed 13.14 points to 3,101.35.
The Main Market volume increased to 1.23 billion units valued at RM1.99 billion from Monday's 996.49 million units worth RM1.68 billion.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 361.68 million shares valued at RM69.25 million from 398.64 million shares worth RM72.96 million.
Warrants volume narrowed to 200.37 million units valued at RM25.09 million from 243.37 million units worth RM24.71 million previously.
Consumer products accounted for 101.65 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (339.29 million), construction (73.79 million), trade and services (410.01 million), technology (144.1 million), infrastructure (10.98 million), SPAC (4.42 million), finance (51.59 million), hotels (292,000), properties (77.23 million), plantations (11.60 million), mining (149,500), REITs (5.42 million), and closed/fund (5,800).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM164.98 per gramme, down 36 sen from RM165.34 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama