Bursa Malaysia snaps 3-day winning streak
KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia snapped a three-day winning streak to end in the red today, dampened by mild profit-taking in index-linked heavyweights.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) retraced down 5.93 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 1,753.07 from Thursday's close of 1,759.00.
The key index, which started the day 1.94 points lower at 1,757.06, was confined within a tight trading range of between 1,760.02 and 1745.65.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 475 to 414 with 386 counters unchanged, 583 counters untraded and 48 others suspended.
Total volume reduced to 2.34 billion shares valued at RM3.51 billion from Thursday's 2.42 billion shares valued at RM3.26 billion.
Profit-taking in Hong Leong Group, Genting Bhd and British American Tobacco (BAT) dragged the FBM KLCI lower by a collective contribution of 6.28 points, nevertheless, top weighted Maybank and IHH Healthcare (IHH) supported the market bellwether.
Hong Leong Financial lost 90 sen to RM17, Hong Leong Bank declined 42 sen to RM16.66, Genting Bhd erased 26 sen to RM8.99 and BAT dropped RM2.08 to RM38.12.
Maybank rose five sen to RM9.54, IHH bagged ten sen to RM5.81, while MISC and RHB Bank gained 12 sen each to RM7.24 and RM5.12, respectively.
Among the actively-traded stocks, PUC added two sen to 28.5 sen, Tiger and Borneo were flat at 4.5 sen and nine sen, respectively, UMW Oil and Gas erased half-a-sen to 29 sen, while Sapura Energy lost two sen to 78.5 sen.
A local dealer said market was taking the cue from the US Dow Jones Industrial Average that underwent a correction after a four-day rally.
"Traders stayed on the sidelines amid mild profit-taking in the heavyweight stocks. A dwindled volume might show a sign of window dressing for December is almost over as most fund managers could probably be going for their year-end holidays.
"It could marks the beginning of a consolidation where market could be range traded and quieter till year-end," he added.
The DJIA index fell 76.77 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 24,508.66 overnight.
On the scoreboard, the FBM Emas Index lost 11.61 points to 12,588.84 and the FBMT 100 Index declined 10.12 points to 12,256.85.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index advanced 23.00 points to 12,890.73.
The FBM 70 rose 97.71 points to 15,460.71, while the FBM Ace declined 48.66 points to 6,428.42.
On a sectoral basis, the Industrial Index fell 6.76 points to 3,180.16, the Finance Index dipped 70.29 points to 16,586.51 and the Plantation Index declined 43.41 points to 7,810.11.
Main Market volume swelled to 1.69 billion units, worth RM3.38 billion, from 1.52 billion units, worth RM3.11 billion, on Thursday.
Volume on the ACE Market reduced to 452.25 million shares, valued at RM95.52 million, from 587.83 million shares, valued at RM109.36 million, registered yesterday.
Warrants volume declined to 179.11 million units, worth RM27.10 million, from 301.70 million units, worth RM32.85 million, on Thursday.
Consumer products accounted for 45.96 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products (232.56 million), construction (59.51 million), trade and services (712.09 million), technology (145.80 million), infrastructure (17.69 million), SPAC (1.17 million), finance (79.22 million), hotels (673,100), properties (335.53 million), plantations (57.80 million), mining (37,800), REITs (7.81 million), and closed/fund (4,000).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM159.64 per gramme, up 39 sen from RM159.25 at 5pm yesterday. — Bernama