Bursa Malaysia retreats, but FBM KLCI stays above 1,600

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia retreated from its two-day gains to end lower on Friday but stayed above the 1,600 level as investors took profit amid the negative performance of its regional peers.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 5.73 points to 1,611.02 compared to Thursday’s close of 1,616.75.

The benchmark index, which opened almost a point lower at 1,615.76, moved between 1,608.41 and 1,616.26 throughout the trading session.

Decliners outpaced gainers 670 to 447, with 490 counters unchanged, 796 untraded and six others suspended.

Turnover fell to 4.34 billion units worth RM2.95 billion from yesterday’s 4.93 billion units worth RM3.79 billion.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said today’s selling pressure, ahead of the long weekend break and tonight’s job data release, is seen as a temporary dip.

Hence, he believes the market remains positive, as evidenced by the substantial premiums from new listings earlier this week on the ACE Market.

“This indicates strong investor confidence, and we anticipate increased liquidity, particularly within the smaller cap segment,” he told BK.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said key regional indices ended negatively due to cautious trading ahead of the US Job data.

Furthermore, he said, markets currently anticipate a reasonable chance of two rate cuts this year.

“On the domestic front, we reckon the market undertone remains stable given the strong corporate earnings, healthy growth of the local economy and continuous inflow of foreign direct investments,” he said.

Among heavyweights, Maybank fell six sen to RM10.04, Tenaga Nasional lost two sen to RM14.22, CIMB decreased five sen to RM6.95, while Public Bank and IHH Healthcare slid one sen each to RM4.04 and RM6.32.

Among the most active counters, Nova added 3.5 sen to 26.5 sen, SNS Network gained 2.5 sen to 91 sen and Hubline rose one sen to 7.0 sen. Velesto slipped one sen to 27 sen while MYEG was flat at RM1.03.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index edged down 31.68 points to 12,444.99, the FBMT 100 Index eased 31.75 points to 12,012.88, the FBM Emas Shariah Index weakened by 21.96 points to 12,806.88, the FBM 70 Index gave up 8.43 points to 18,385.49, while the FBM ACE Index strengthened by 6.48 points to 5,966.31.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 57.19 points to 17,603.44, the Energy Index ticked down by 2.81 points to 986.75 and the Plantation Index eased by 8.27 points to 7,005.64.

However, the Industrial Products and Services Index improved 0.73 of-a-point to 199.92.

The Main Market volume decreased to 2.24 billion units valued at RM2.42 billion from 2.82 billion units valued at RM3.16 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover improved to 987.05 million units worth RM141.13 million compared with 864.53 million units worth RM131.23 million previously.

The ACE Market volume fell to 1.10 billion shares valued at RM389.59 million against 1.25 billion shares valued at RM493.72 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 456.67 million shares traded on the Main Market; industrial products and services (422.52 million); construction (200.75 million); technology (325.94 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (71.02 million); property (235.43 million); plantation (22.59 million); REITs (10.61 million); closed/fund (27,800); energy (155.98 million); healthcare (93.92 million); telecommunications and media (52.71 million); transportation and logistics (122.40 million); utilities (71.58 million); and business trusts (361,900). – BK