BURSA Malaysia pared most of its earlier losses at the close of trading today amid the ongoing political developments, with key index remaining above the psychological 1,500-point level.
The benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 2.21 points to end the day at its intraday high of 1,502.90 from Friday’s close of 1,505.11.
The market bellwether, which opened 5.19 points weaker at 1,499.92, fluctuated between 1,493.60 and 1,502.90 throughout the day.
Market breadth remained negative with losers trouncing gainers 633 to 377, while 422 counters were unchanged, 779 untraded, and 19 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 5.03 billion units worth RM2.37 bil from Friday’s 3.56 billion units worth RM2.1 bil.
Rakuten Trade head of equity sales Vincent Lau said the local bourse pared down some of its earlier losses despite some prevailing uncertainties.
“We see the market climbing above 1,500, partly because there are some orderly transition and there is some potential resolution to the current uncertainties. We noticed that the market did not fall as people think it would because of the uncertainties. We might see bargain hunting activities,” he told Bernama.
Earlier today, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong accepted Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation along with his Cabinet. Muhyiddin will now function as a caretaker prime minister until a successor is appointed.
On the local bourse, heavyweights, Maybank added one sen to RM8.06, TNB jumped nine sen to RM9.75, Axiata and Maxis were three sen higher at RM3.83 and RM4.39, respectively, while IHH Healthcare was flat at RM5.80, and Public Bank and Petronas Chemicals both slipped one sen to RM3.93 and RM7.95 respectively.
Among the actives, Avillion rose two sen to 21 sen, Advance Synergy edged up half-a-sen to 17.5 sen, both KNM and Malayan United Industries were one sen higher at 22 sen and 9.5 sen, while Fintec Global was flat at 2.5 sen and Dagang NeXchange declined three sen to 75.5 sen. – Aug 16, 2021
