BURSA Malaysia snapped its three-day winning streak to close lower today, dampened by selling in heavyweight stocks, led by the telecommunications sector.
At 5 pm, the FBM KLCI ended 3.83 points easier at 1,608.42, compared with Friday’s close of 1,612.25.
The index, which opened 1.71 points stronger at 1,613.96, moved between 1,603.41 and 1,613.96 throughout the day.
Axiata and Digi topped the losers list among the 30 constituent counters after falling by 18 sen to RM3.93 and 15 sen to RM4.31 respectively.
“Both stocks were heavily traded last week following news of a merger between the two telecom giants, but profit-taking emerged today to reap off some gains in the market,” a dealer told Bernama.
Petronas Chemicals was the biggest winner after rising 15 sen to RM7.98 with 2.25 million shares changing hands.
On the broader market, losers hammered gainers 667 versus 411, while 584 counters were unchanged, 495 untraded and nine others suspended.
Total volume decreased to 5.86 billion shares worth RM3.35 bil from 6.58 billion shares valued at RM4.14 bil on Friday.
Of the heavyweights, Maybank bagged three sen to RM8.32, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.21, IHH Healthcare increased eight sen to RM5.38, and Top Glove edged two sen up to RM5.25.
Tenaga, however, was flat at RM10.24.
Among the active counters, both Luster Industries and Hiap Teck trimmed one sen each to 24.5 sen and 50 sen respectively, LKL gained 2.5 sen to 40 sen while Borneo Oil inched up half-a-sen to five sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 10.58 points lower at 11,888.34, the FBMT 100 decreased 9.46 points to 11,537.1, the FBM Emas Shariah lost 19.89 points to 13,261.27, and the FBM ACE gave up 241.55 points for 9,753.99.
However, the FBM 70 rose 56.06 points to 15,843.03.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index bagged 2.02 points to 195.58, the Plantation Index went down 23.61 points to 6,960.02, while the Financial Services Index reduced 11.19 points to 15,202.64. – April 12, 2021
