BURSA Malaysia closed lower today on continuous selling pressure in most heavyweights led by gloves maker Hartalega, amid weak market sentiment, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 5.20 points to 1,521.86 from 1,527.06 at Friday’s close after opening 5.34 points lower at 1,521.72.
The benchmark index fluctuated between 1,518.82 and 1,525.82 throughout the trading session.
The overall market breadth was negative with decliners outnumbering advancers 594 to 335, while 385 counters were unchanged, 955 untraded, and 11 others suspended.
Total turnover increased to 2.83 billion units worth RM1.88 bil versus Friday’s 2.64 billion units valued at RM1.98 bil.
An analyst told Bernama that weaker earnings outlook is expected for glove makers on continuous lower average selling price (ASP) for gloves as supply remained high and COVID-19 hype diminishes.
“This dragged Hartalega down, falling 3.82% or 22 sen to RM5.53 while Top Glove dipped 4.14% or nine sen to RM2.08,” she told Bernama.
In another development, following a report that Genting Hong Kong’s has filed for liquidation just a week after its German shipbuilding subsidiary MV Werften went into insolvency, stocks of Genting Bhd and Genting Malaysia Bhd (GenM) were closely watched by investors.
Genting closed 8 sen lower at RM4.49 with 3.91 million shares traded while GenM shed 7 sen to RM2.78 with 6.61 million shares changing hands.
Singapore’s Straits Times reported yesterday that three Malaysian banks’ profits, including Maybank, are set to take a major hit as trouble looms over cruise operator Genting Hong Kong, a major Asian corporate casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The other two banks are CIMB and RHB Bank Bhd.
The report said that these three banks were, among some, the chief unsecured creditors of Genting Hong Kong, with a combined exposure of US$600 mil (RM2.5 bil).
Maybank today stated vehemently that the allegations that it will face major financial trouble owing to exposure to Genting Hong Kong were baseless.
Maybank’s share price closed 3 sen lower at RM8.25, CIMB slid five sen to RM5.25, and RHB erased 13 sen to RM5.59.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said the regional markets were mostly lower following cues from the decline in Wall Street last Friday, amid rising concerns about inflationary pressures and potential interest rate increase as traders await the US Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision during its meeting on Jan 25-26, 2022.
“On the domestic front, we reckon that the local market is expected to see some headwinds amid heightening regional volatility, nonetheless, we believe stock accumulation to persist on dips.
“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trade within the 1,515-1,535 range this week. Technically, we shall see immediate support at 1,500 and resistance at 1,530,” said Thong.
As for other heavyweights, Public Bank, Petronas Chemicals, and Tenaga Nasional gained one sen each to RM4.19, RM8.90, and RM9.11 respectively.
Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange was 5.5 sen lower at 93 sen, Coraza rose 15.5 sen to 81.5 sen, SMTrack added half-a-sen to 19.5 sen, while TWL Holdings eased one sen to 5.5 sen. – Jan 24, 2022
