BURSA Malaysia ended in the negative territory for the third straight trading session today amid mixed performance in regional markets as stocks succumbed to selling pressure.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) ended at its intraday low of 1,581.14, down 7.87 points or 0.49%, against Friday’s close of 1,589.01.
The barometer index hit an intraday high of 1,591.64 in the early morning trading session.
On the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 558 to 314, with 397 counters unchanged, 980 untraded, and 24 others suspended.
Total turnover increased to 2.44 billion units worth RM1.57 bil from 2.15 billion units worth RM1.41 bil last Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the local equities continued to decline due to lack of buying interest, amid continuous selling pressure due to weak regional sentiment.
Regionally, the key indices were mostly lower as higher oil prices and Treasury yields heightened worries about inflation.
On a positive note, China’s first-quarter 2022 gross domestic product grew faster than expected, rising 4.8%, which was above above the expected 4.4% year-on-year increase.
“As for the local bourse, despite the cautious market undertone, we expect bargain-hunting will prevail given the cheap valuations of local stocks. Moreover, the positive China economic data will potentially attract more funds to be channelled into the region, which will cause a spillover effect to the local equity market as well,” he told Bernama.
“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to move within the 1,580-1,600 range for the week, with immediate resistance at 1,600 and support at 1,580,” he added.
Regionally, the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.98% to 3,303.07, South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.11% to 2,693.21, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite eased 0.49% to 3,192.52.
Japan’s Nikkei slid 1.08% to 26,799.71 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.67% to 21,518.08.,
On the local bourse, heavyweights Maybank and Public Bank slipped 4 sen to RM8.75 and RM4.63, respectively, Petronas Chemicals added 8 sen to RM10.40, Press Metal gained 2 sen to RM6.54, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.40.
Of the actives, Techna-X rose 1 sen to 10.5 sen, Cengild Medical increased 13.5 sen to 46.5 sen, Permaju inched up half-a-sen to 9 sen, and Hextar was up 3 sen to 37.5 sen, while Key Alliance was flat at 1 sen. – April 18, 2022
