BURSA Malaysia ended at the day’s low today, extending its losses for the fourth consecutive day amid persistent selling pressure in selected heavyweights as weak sentiment prevailed in the region, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) closed at 1,525.93, down 11.90 points, or 0.77%, from last Friday’s close of 1,537.83.
The index, which opened 0.91 point better at 1,538.7, moved as high as 1,541.43 during the day.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 592 to 365, while 395 counters were unchanged, 903 untraded, and nine others suspended.
Total turnover was higher at 2.62 billion units worth RM1.78 bil compared with 2.23 billion units worth RM1.67 bil last Friday.
A dealer said Bursa Malaysia opened higher this morning, taking the cue from overnight positive performance on Wall Street, but turned into negative territory at mid-morning to end lower, succumbing to selling pressure on selected heavyweight stocks while tracking the mixed performance of regional peers.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng said Wall Street ended broadly higher yesterday but well off earlier highs as investors continued to fret about inflation and rising interest rates, while also speculating about whether this year’s selloff may have touched bottom.
Meanwhile, key regional indices ended mixed with markets swinging between gains and losses as investors remained concerned whether the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes could cool inflation that was running at a four-decade high without tipping the US economy into recession, he said.
“As for the local bourse, investors seemed reluctant to make more significant moves due to the absence of buying catalysts.
“We expect the FBM KLCI to consolidate further, hence anticipating it to trend sideways within the range of 1,520 to 1,540 for the week with immediate support at 1,520 followed by 1,500 while resistance is at 1,570,” he told Bernama.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index eased 0.06% to 3,224.78, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.10% to 27,943.95, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.56% to 21,531.67, South Korea’s KOSPI decreased 1.66% to 2,626.3, and China’s SSE Composite Index rose 0.17% to 3,241.76.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank and CIMB lost 4 sen each to RM8.84 and RM5.06, respectively, Public Bank declined 6 sen to RM4.52, Petronas Chemicals fell 13 sen to RM9.86, and IHH Healthcare was flat at RM6.50.
Of the actives, ACE Market debutant Yew Lee Pacific Group added 1 sen to 29 sen, Green Packet and G3 Global edged up half-a-sen each to 7.5 sen and 5 sen, respectively, Kumpulan Jetson rose 6.5 sen to 31.5 sen, and Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 5 sen.
