BURSA Malaysia ended lower today as profit-taking emerged in selected consumer products and financial services counters, despite the uptrend in most regional bourses, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 20.12 points, or 1.26%, to 1,576.62 from last Friday’s close of 1,596.74.
The index opened 3.80 points higher at 1,600.54 and moved between 1,575.88 and 1,601.54 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 1,142 to 226, while 291 counters were unchanged, 459 untraded and 20 others suspended.
Total volume was higher at 7.47 billion units worth RM5.14 bil compared with 6.63 billion units worth RM4.81 bil on Friday.
A dealer said, regionally, optimism was high that once the pandemic is under some control, regional economies would make strong recoveries, with lockdowns easing and vaccine rollouts already started in various countries, compared to last year.
However, he said worries that have rippled through the markets over the pandemic have remained, particularly with resurging cases in some parts of China and in Japan.
Another dealer said that the investors still remained cautious ahead of the first US Federal Reserve’s meeting under President Joe Biden administration, as well as the holiday-shortened week in Malaysia.
Among heavyweights, Maybank slipped 12 sen to RM7.88, Public Bank declined 36 sen to RM21.30, Petronas Chemicals went down 45 sen to RM6.90, TNB fell 13 sen to RM9.65, while Top Glove added 27 sen to RM6.25.
Of the actives, DNeX improved 4.0 sen to 30 sen, Bioalpha eased half-a-sen to 29.5 sen, XOX shed 1 sen to 8 sen, while Pegasus was flat at 2.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index fell 173.07 points to 11,390.55, the FBMT 100 Index dipped 159.52 points to 11,135.24, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index was 156.37 points lower at 12,892.58.
The FBM 70 lost 277.46 points to 14,624.22 and the FBM ACE decreased 87.76 points to 10,670.25.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shrank 320.32 points to 14,564.74, the Plantation Index decreased 38.70 points to 7,184.46 and the Industrial Products and Services Index slipped 6.55 points to 170.80. – Jan 25, 2021
