Bursa Malaysia reversed yesterday’s gains to end lower today on profit-taking, amid mixed performance on regional peers as investors remained cautious on uncertainties such as global recession, inflation and rising interest rates, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 16.69 points or 1.06% to 1,553.41 from 1,570.10 at Tuesday’s close.
The index, which opened 6.70 points weaker at 1,563.40, moved between 1,552.22 and 1,563.89 throughout the session.
Market breadth was mixed with gainers leading losers 508 to 450, while 405 counters were unchanged, 880 untraded, and 16 others suspended.
Total turnover decreased to 2.57 billion units worth RM2.49 bil from 3.80 billion units worth RM6.11 bil on Tuesday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said on the local bourse, investors took profit as a result of a sudden surge in the FBM KLCI during the last minute of trading yesterday.
Key regional markets were broadly lower today as investors were wary of prevailing uncertainties including global recession, inflation and rising interest rates.
He said US equities slumped overnight on fears of inflation and slower economic growth as the world is now facing a food crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 222.84 points or 0.67% while the Nasdaq Composite declined by 49.74 points or 0.41%.
“We reckon that the short-term market sentiment will remain jittery amid the uncertain regional and global performance although bargain hunting may prevail.
“Hence, we anticipate the benchmark index to trend sideways, within the range of 1,550-1,565 for the remainder of the week,” Thong told Bernama, adding the immediate support for the key index was at 1,530 and resistance at 1,575.
Among heavyweights, Maybank fell 21 sen to RM8.89, Public Bank slipped 10 sen to RM4.63, both Petronas Chemicals and IHH Healthcare lost 20 sen each to RM10.06 and RM6.50, respectively, while CIMB rose 5 sen to RM5.20.
Of the actives, Sapura Energy slid 1.5 sen to 7 sen, Yong Tai was down half-a-sen to 10 sen, G3 Global eased 1 sen to 4.5 sen, while Genting Bhd added 49 sen to RM5.24 and Serba Dinamik gained 1 sen to 11 sen.
On the index board, the FBM 70 dipped 4.49 points to 13,234.63, FBMT 100 Index shank 89.72 points to 10,768.78, FBM Emas Index weakened 81.01 points to 11,070.89, FBM Emas Shariah Index retreated 96.13 points to 11,413.50, while the FBM ACE declined 1.99 points to 5,183.65.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 2.55 points to 200.66, the Plantation Index dipped 27.43 points to 7,936.55, and the Financial Services Index declined 164.11 points to 16,746.58. – June 01, 2022
