KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia bucked the regional trend to finish in the red today as investors await for more catalysts for investment direction, says Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd.
Its head of research, Kenny Yee, also did not rule out the possibility that news on Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned that exports-reliant Malaysia could be hit with trade sanctions, also had, more or less, affected the market sentiment.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.22 points to 1,570.93 from Friday’s close of 1,571.15.
The index, which opened 2.37 points lower at 1,568.78, moved between 1,565.08 and 1,572.06 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative, with losers trouncing gainers 438 to 380, while 391 counters were unchanged, 808 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover declined to 2.27 billion shares worth RM1.47 billion from 2.95 billion shares worth RM2.22 billion last Friday.
Commenting on the market performance, Yee said the news had slightly affected buying momentum in key index-linked counters, as institutional players were hesitant over the investment direction.
“The sentiment was further dampened when market participants saw that international investors have taken out RM8.69 billion worth of local equities from Bursa Malaysia year-to-date,“ he told Bernama.
However, Yee said overall, the local bourse was still supported by buying in the Ace Market and small-cap shares.
“Buying support was also seen in technology-linked counters, thanks to the 2020 Budget which emphasised on digitalisation,“ he added.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei added 0.25 per cent to 22,548.90, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ticked up 0.02 per cent to 26,725.68 and Singapore’s Straits Times Index went up 0.80% to 3,139.15.
Among heavyweights, Maybank and IHH shed one sen each to RM8.49 and RM5.66 respectively, Tenaga and Public Bank were flat at RM13.80 and RM19.28 respectively, while Petronas Chemicals rose two sen to RM7.40.
Of the most actives, NetX and Sanichi slipped half-a-sen each to two sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, Bumi Armada gained 3.5 sen to 48 sen, MTAG was three sen better at 54 sen while Sino Hua-an added 1.5 sen to 16 sen.
Topping the top losers list, F&N erased 84 sen to RM34.36, while top gainer, KESM bagged 38 sen to RM8.00.
The FBM 70 fell 2.51 points to 14,119.26, the FBMT 100 Index slid 1.60 points to 11,003.20 but the FBM Ace rose 48.17 points to 4,831.41.
The FBM Emas Index improved 2.56 points to 11,192.30 and the FBM Emas Shariah Index garnered 7.42 points to 11,808.65.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index retreated 53.43 points to 15,221.19, while the Plantation Index edged up 14.74 points to 6,639.47 and the Industrial Products & Services Index ticked up 0.08 of a point to 152.64.
Main Market narrowed to 1.42 billion shares worth RM1.23 billion from 1.89 billion units worth RM1.98 billion last Friday.
Warrants turnover reduced to 319.83 million units valued at RM61.92 million from 404.0 million units worth RM75.57 million last week.
Volume on the ACE Market jumped to 829.37 million shares worth RM178.51 million from 665.01 million shares worth RM173.66 million previously.
Consumer products and services accounted for 245.84 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (151.81 million), construction (90.87 million), technology (220.81 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (19.91 million), property (107.88 million), plantations (21.98 million), REITs (5.84 million), closed/fund (12,000), energy (447.23 million), healthcare (12.51 million), telecommunications and media (44.38 million), transportation and logistics (42.99 million), and utilities (13.59 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM193.70 per gramme, up eight sen from RM193.62 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama
