BURSA Malaysia erased earlier gains to close in the negative territory today, driven by continued profit-taking in selected plantation counters, amid mixed sentiment in the regional market, dealers said.
IOI Corp and Sime Darby Plantation lost 32 sen and 16 sen each to RM4.08 and RM5.02, respectively, contributing a total of 5.39 points to the loss in the composite index.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 6.59 points or 0.42% to 1,542.53, from Friday’s close of 1,549.12, after hovering between 1,540.09 and 1,556.43 throughout the day.
The benchmark index, which opened 4.03 points higher at 1,553.15, remained in the positive territory for most part of the day, before turning red in the mid afternoon session as mild profit-taking emerged.
Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing advancers 546 to 355, while 598 counters were unchanged, 798 untraded, and 23 others suspended.
Total turnover rose to 3.41 billion units worth RM1.88 bil from 2.39 billion units worth RM1.99 bil last Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the key regional indices were mixed as worries about inflation and rising interest rates continued to dampen sentiment, while selling in technology stocks weighed on the Chinese markets.
“Investors continue to assess the economic growth outlook for the world’s largest economies and whether the recent selloff will carry on. Back home, we believe the market undertone will remain cautious amid the volatile regional performance although bargain hunting may prevail.
“As such, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to continue to move sideways within the 1,545-1,565 range for the week. Technically, we see the immediate resistance at 1,570 and support at 1,540,” he told Bernama today.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.83% to 3,213.65, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.98% to 27,001.52, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.19% to 20,470.06, South Korea’s Kospi increased 0.31% to 2,647.38, while China’s SSE Composite Index improved 0.01% to 3,146.86 and Shenzhen Component Index dipped 0.06% to 11,447.95.
Among local heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank and IHH Healthcare added 2 sen each to RM8.98, RM4.54 and RM6.55, respectively, Petronas Chemicals was flat at RM9.99, and TNB fell 4 sen to RM9.20.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy advanced 1.5 sen to 8.5 sen, MQ Tech perked up half-a-sen to 6 sen, Serba Dinamik shed 2.5 sen to 11 sen, KNM eased half-a-sen to 19.5 sen, while Techna-X was flat at 5.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM ACE decreased 67.01 points to 5,276.08, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 64.70 points to 11,464.57, the FBM Emas Index lost 28.79 points to 11,042.58, the FBMT 100 Index reduced 30.11 points to 10,704.96, and the FBM 70 added 26.72 points to 13,203.74.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index was 0.21 of-a-point higher at 199.58, the Plantation Index dropped 216.69 points to 8,041.11, while the Financial Services Index fell 6.75 points to 16,554.95. – May 23, 2022
