BURSA Malaysia ended the holiday-shortened week mixed, with the key index declining 0.19% due to profit-taking activities following yesterday’s solid performance, an analyst said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) dropped 2.97 points to 1,522.76 from 1,525.73 at yesterday’s close.
The index, which opened 0.57 of-a-point higher at 1,526.30, moved between 1,518.82 and 1,526.80 throughout the day.
Meanwhile, overall market breadth was positive with gainers outpacing losers 553 to 324, while 397 counters were unchanged, 932 untraded, and 23 others suspended.
Total turnover improved to 2.43 billion units worth RM1.65 bil from 2.05 billion units valued at RM1.62 bil recorded yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets, meanwhile, closed broadly higher, shrugging off the technology sell-down on Wall Street.
“Investors are awaiting for the latest update on the recovering US jobs market data which will be released later on Friday.
“With the market volatility heightened again, we reckon regional and local markets to be similarly affected,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.44% to 3,330.73, Japan’s Nikkei 225 expanded 0.73% to 27,439.99, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index strengthened 3.24% to 24,573.29.
Among the heavyweights, IOI Corp shed 15 sen to RM3.74, Maybank dropped 6 sen to RM8.26, Tenaga Nasional weakened 11 sen to RM9.11, and MR DIY lost eight sen to RM3.51.
Of the actives, Dagang NeXchange advanced 3 sen to RM1.01, SMTrack gained 1 sen to 17.5 sen, and Hibiscus Petroleum added nine sen to RM1.09. – Feb 4, 2022
