BURSA Malaysia ended lower today as investors offloaded selected heavyweight stocks, with Top Glove Corporation Bhd and Maxis Bhd leading the retreat, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.30 points to 1,531.33 from Tuesday’s close of 1,537.63.
Top Glove and Maxis shed nine sen each to RM2.49 and RM4.58 respectively, altogether dragging the barometer index down by 2.58 points.
The index, which opened 5.52 points higher at 1,543.15, fluctuated between 1,530.35 and 1,543.87 during the day.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 647 to 322, while 443 counters were unchanged, 863 untraded, and 19 others suspended.
Turnover slipped to 3.42 billion units valued at RM2.35 bil from Tuesday’s 3.65 billion units valued at RM2.71 bil.
A dealer said Bursa Malaysia had opened higher after taking its cue from the stronger Wall Street performance overnight, but turned lower across the board at mid-morning, except for the healthcare and financial services sectors which saw continued buying interest and supported the barometer index.
He said the local bourse’s performance was in line with regional peers which ended mostly lower today as investors awaited comments from the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later today for market direction.
“The US central bank is expected to disclose plans to ease pandemic stimulus measures and boost the economy,” he said.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index trimmed 0.37% to 3,220.40, South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.25% to 2,975.71 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.30% to 25,024.75 while Japan is closed for a holiday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told Bernama that the FBM KLCI is still reeling from the impact of Cukai Makmur or prosperity tax as corporates will need to take into account the impact of the windfall tax on their earnings.
“Despite that, we saw foreign investors recording net purchases yesterday amounting to RM59.85 mil compared to net purchases of RM14.97 mil on Monday as they saw values emerging in some the local stocks and started to acquire,” he said.
On another note, he said the latest move by Bank Negara Malaysia to maintain the overnight policy rate (OPR) at 1.75% today indicated that the central bank is committed to ensuring that the monetary policy remains supportive of the country’s economy.
“This would mean the cost of funds remains competitive, thereby stimulating capital expenditure among the firms. In the meantime, we expect range-bound trade amid the holiday-shortened week,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM8, Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM8.31, IHH Healthcare rose six sen to RM6.52, Tenaga eased two sen to RM9.58 while Public Bank was flat at RM4.04.
Of the actives, NWP Holdings bagged six sen to 30 sen, Sedania perked up 6.5 sen to 69.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange reduced four sen to 78.5 sen, AirAsia X slid one sen to 4.5 sen while Sapura Energy was flat at 10 sen. – Nov 3, 2021
