BURSA Malaysia ended in the negative territory for the eighth consecutive day today, with the benchmark index declining 1.95% as market sentiment was hit by heavy selling across the board, a dealer said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 29.12 points to 1,464.83 from Friday’s close of 1,493.95.
The barometer index opened 10.19 points lower at 1,483.76, its intraday high, and hit its low of 1,458.85 year-to-date (YTD) in the afternoon session.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 1,084 to 138, while 253 counters were unchanged, 799 untraded, and 21 others suspended.
Total turnover rose to 3.27 billion units worth RM2.26 bil compared to 2.26 billion units worth RM1.69 bil on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI had broken several support levels in the past two trading weeks and slumped to a YTD low today, in tandem with regional weakness, influenced by steep falls on Wall Street overnight.
“The market undertone remains jittery amid the heightened global market risks and volatility.
“Notwithstanding this, we believe the market is oversold, hence, providing opportunities for investors to accumulate stocks at attractive levels given their cheaper valuations,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, he said key regional indices also edged lower due to a surprise US inflation data that raised the possibility of an intensified monetary tightening from the US Federal Reserve.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index shed 1.33% to 3,139.35, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 3.01% to 26,987.44, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 3.39% to 21,067.58, and China’s SSE Composite Index dipped 0.89% to 3,225.55.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank eased 7 sen to RM8.68, Public Bank lost 5 sen to RM4.48, IHH Healthcare shed 23 sen to RM6.22, Petronas Chemicals slid 14 sen to RM9.56, and CIMB inched down 11 sen to RM4.93.
Of the actives, Fintech eased half-a-sen to 1 sen, Top Glove was down 10 sen to RM1.03, while both Sapura Energy and BCM were flat at 5 sen and 2.5 sen, respectively. – June 13, 2022
