THE local bourse retreated from yesterday’s gains to finish marginally lower today, dragged down by profit-taking activities as the risk-off mode intensified, an analyst said.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 7.51 points to 1,455.89 from yesterday’s closing of 1,463.40.
The barometer index opened 2.81 points lower at 1,460.59 – its highest level today – before moving to the day’s low of 1,454.52 during the morning session.
Market breadth was negative with decliners leading gainers 530 to 374 while 435 counters were unchanged, 1,035 untraded and 10 others suspended.
Turnover narrowed to 2.97 billion shares valued at RM2.04 bil against 3.66 billion shares valued at RM2.11 bil yesterday (Nov 21).
SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes told Bernama the FBM KLCI trended lower as investors re-evaluated market sentiment following the release of US Federal Reserve’s minutes which tempered rate cut expectations.
In addition, he said the holiday-shortened week ahead of Thanksgiving celebration this week has been dominating global investors’ appetite which is leaning towards risk reduction instead of risk-taking mode.
Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank eased one sen to RM9.10, Public Bank was flat at RM4.27, CIMB eased two sen to RM5.77, Petronas Chemicals dropped 13 sen to RM7.25, and Tenaga Nasional gave up four sen to RM9.98.
Of the actives, Widad earned half-a-sen to 46.5 sen, Top Glove and Capital A rose three sen each to 84 sen and 86.5 sen, Leform gained one sen to 27.5 sen while Perdana Petroleum fell two sen to 24 sen. – Nov 22, 2023
