KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia finished trading on an easier note today amid losses in selected blue chips, and in sync with most key regional bourses ahead of some central banks policy meetings this week, dealers said.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 0.23 of-a-point to 1,638.40 compared with Friday’s close of 1,638.63.
The barometer index, which opened 0.30 of-a-point better at 1,638.93 this morning, moved between 1,637.46 and 1,644.04 throughout the day.
Market breadth was negative as losers outpaced gainers 537 to 254, while 351 counters were unchanged, 738 untraded and 34 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 1.62 billion units valued at RM1.43 billion from 1.75 billion units worth RM1.67 billion recorded on Friday.
The local bourse opened Monday’s trading softer but slowly picked up steam thereafter on bargain hunting. However, it slipped towards the end of the trading on profit-taking.
The market performance was in line with Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd’s forecast whereby it opined that profit-taking may surface due to fewer available catalysts to support market sentiments.
“The earlier gains on bargain hunting failed to dominate as traders hit the sidelines ahead of key economic events such as the monetary policy meetings by the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan, all taking place this week.
“Moreover, concerns are still abound over the state of the global economy as the US-China trade dispute lingers,“ the dealer said.
Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.45% to 3,207.99, South Korean Kospi shed 0.22% to 2,090.73 while Shanghai’s SSE eased 0.79% to 2,887.62.
Japan’s Nikkei was 0.03% better at 21,124.00 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index improved 0.4% to 27,227.16.
Among heavyweights, Maybank was flat at RM8.96, Public Bank declined 10 sen to RM23.02 and Tenaga was 56 sen higher at RM12.74.
Of the actively-traded stocks, Greatech rose nine sen to 90 sen, Ekovest inched down half-a-sen to 83.5 sen, My EG lost five sen to RM1.39 while Lambo was flat at six sen.
The FBM Emas Index fell 25.97 points to 11,538.68, the FBMT 100 Index decreased 22.23 points to 11,390.28 and the FBM Emas Syariah Index declined 15.70 points to 11,772.54.
The FBM Ace went down 37.80 points to 4,349.74 and the FBM 70 dropped 111.72 points to 14,269.31.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index was 76.96 points lower at 16,654.51 and the Plantation Index slipped 10.97 points to 6,860.11, while the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.94 of-a-point to 159.41.
Main Market volume dwindled to 820.87 million shares worth RM1.21 billion from 1.03 billion shares valued at RM1.44 billion on Friday.
Warrants turnover rose to 513.93 million units worth RM120.60 million versus 419.44 million units valued at RM93.86 million.
Volume on the ACE Market reduced to 283.78 million shares worth RM100.03 million from 293.52 million shares valued at RM128.33 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 142.67 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (184.31 million), construction (109.25 million), technology (92.12 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (33.82 million), property (56.97 million), plantation (15.83 million), REITs (7.23 million), closed/fund (1,100), energy (110 million), healthcare (16.60 million), telecommunications and media (21.19 million), transportation and logistics (14.26 billion), and utilities (16.65 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5pm stood at RM173.18 per gramme, down RM2.28 from RM175.46 at 5pm last Friday. — Bernama
