BURSA Malaysia closed marginally lower today amid mixed regional peers as sentiment was mostly weighed down by the negative cues from global markets.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.52 points to 1,496.03 from 1,501.55 on Friday, with almost two thirds of the 30 index-linked companies ending in negative territory.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.03 of-a-point better at 1,501.58 this morning, fluctuated between 1,490.41 and 1,501.58 throughout the trading session.
On the broader market, losers beat gainers 464 to 323, while 410 counters were unchanged, 1,061 untraded, and eight others suspended.
Total turnover was slightly reduced to 2.19 bil units worth RM1.33 bil from 2.61 billion units worth RM1.62 bil on Friday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said key regional markets ended mixed following different reactions on the United States (US) economic data.
He also said some investors are wary of further possible aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserves following a stronger-than-expected US job data last Friday.
On the local front, he reckoned sentiment to remain cautious given the increasing market volatility across the region.
“The local market may turn positive due to persistent net inflow from foreign funds which reached RM6.7 billion year to date.
“As such, we expect the FBM KLCI to trend sideways with an uptrend bias within the 1,485-1,515 range for the week,” he told Bernama, citing the next resistance level to be at 1,500 followed by 1,530, with the support level at 1,460.
Among other heavyweights, Maybank slipped one sen to RM8.88, Petronas Chemicals fell seven sen to RM8.73, IHH Healthcare eased two sen to RM6.41, and Tenaga Nasional lost 12 sen to RM8.35.
Public Bank added one sen to RM4.64 and CIMB gained three sen to RM5.28.
Of the actives, Metronic and Zen Tech trimmed one sen each to 6.5 sen and 2.5 sen respectively, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, My E.G. shed 2.5 sen to 78.5 sen, and Dagang NeXchange bagged 1.5 sen to 89 sen. – Aug 8, 2022
