Broader external market weakness pulls FBM KLCI lower

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended lower today on a broader external market weakness, but the decline was capped by selective play in plantations and third liners, an analyst said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.87 points to 1,732.14 against Thursday's close of 1,738.01.
The index opened 4.3 points lower at 1,733.71 and moved between 1,718.13 and 1,733.71 throughout the day.
Maybank Investment Bank Chartist Nik Ihsan Raja Abdullah said overall market sentiment was dampened by external weakness on concerns over the US-China trade dispute, China's economic growth and rising interest rates in the US.
"However, selective play in plantation stocks and third liners helped support the market from further decline," he told Bernama.
Among Bursa Malaysia's heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM9.60, while Public Bank and TNB lost two sen each to RM25 and RM14.56 respectively, Petronas Chemicals eased four sen to RM9.39 and CIMB was one sen lower at RM6.02.
As for actives, Iris added three sen to 17.5 sen, while MyEG dropped 37 sen to RM1.13, Datasonic shed 21 sen to 48.5 sen, Sapura Energy slipped one sen to 33.5 sen and Prestariang fell eight sen to 54 sen.
Market breadth was negative with losers leading gainers 579 to 252, with 366 counters unchanged, 702 untraded and 61 others suspended.
Volume was higher at 2.41 billion units valued at RM2.3 billion from Thursday's 2.0 billion units valued at RM2.02 billion.
The FBM Emas Index fell 60.721 points to 11,970.52, the FBM Emas Shariah Index declined 93.97 points to 11,946.12 and the FBMT 100 Index decreased 55 points to 11,799.99.
The FBM Ace Index added 2.99 points to 5,099.96, but the FBM 70 dwindled 122.619 points to 13,774.15.
Sector-wise, the Plantation Index was 40.08 points higher at 7,426.97, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.05 of-a-point to 173.11 and the Financial Services Index decreased 17.51 points to 17,565.46.
Main Market volume grew to 1.62 billion shares worth RM2.12 billion from Thursday's 1.44 billion shares worth RM1.9 billion.
Warrants turnover rose to 391.66 million units valued at RM92.38 million from yesterday's 342.56 million units valued at RM73.69 million.
Volume on the ACE Market increased to 396.34 million shares worth RM83.12 million from 201.01 million shares worth RM51.59 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 159.8 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (208.39 million), construction (118.3 million), technology (505.38 million), SPAC (50,000), financial services (39.84 million), property (155.55 million), plantations (18.1 million), REITs (4.31 million), closed/fund (2,000), energy (266.27 million), healthcare (27.93 million), telecommunication and media (59.91 million), transportation and logistics (13.03 million) and utilities (45.33 million). — Bernama