KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended marginally lower on cautious and range bound trade, in tandem with regional peers, following a lack of market catalysts, said a dealer.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.40 of a point to 1,574.50 from Wednesday’s close of 1,574.90.
The index, which opened 1.86 points easier at 1,573.04, moved between 1,569.21 and 1,574.90 throughout the day.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 413 to 392, with 421 counters unchanged, 750 untraded and 15 others suspended.
Turnover fell to 2.33 billion shares worth RM1.88 billion from 3.06 billion shares worth RM2.23 billion on Wednesday.
Regionally, Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.09 per cent to 22,451.86, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index improved 0.69 per cent to 26,848.49.28, South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.23 per cent to 2,077.94, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 0.32 per cent to 3,124.90.
A dealer said Asian shares were mostly lower, trading cautiously as optimism over the US-China trade negotiations is losing steam, amid a lack of concrete details.
“Investors weighed on soft US retail sales data which stoked fears about the health of the world’s largest economy.
“They are also awaiting the release of Chinese economic growth data due on Friday, for clues on market direction. The data is largely expected to show the world’s second largest economy had slowed further in the third quarter, affected by the trade dispute,” he said.
Bursa Malaysia stayed in the red for most of the trading session today as investors took profit following significant gains yesterday, and the lack of market catalysts to further lift market upside.
Among heavyweights, Public Bank added two sen to RM19.28, Petronas Chemicals gained three sen to RM7.34 and IHH Healthcare rose four sen to RM5.74.
Maybank and Tenaga were flat at RM8.52 and RM13.76 respectively.
Of the most actives, Bumi Armada increased three sen to 44 sen, Green Packet warrant improved one sen to 32 sen, Mestron gained 2.5 sen to 14.5 sen, Sapura Energy eased half-a-sen to 27.5 sen, while MYEG lost 15 sen to RM1.25.
The FBM Emas Index declined 7.08 points to 11,209.77, the FBMT 100 Index fell 7.26 points to 11,025.54 and the FBM 70 slipped 27.49 points to 14,137.17.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index was 4.25 points better at 11,840.63, while the FBM Ace rose 80.23 points to 4,794.66.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index advanced 13.60 points to 15,221.51, the Plantation Index bagged 46.33 points to 6,720.15, and the Industrial Products & Services Index was 0.26 of-a-point better at 152.38.
Main Market volume fell to 1.53 billion units worth RM1.69 billion from Wednesday’s 1.87 billion units worth RM1.99 billion.
Warrants turnover narrowed to 348.82 million units worth RM59.48 million from 411.22 million units worth RM75.22 million.
Volume on the ACE Market slipped to 455.61 million shares worth RM126.32 million from 784.66 million shares worth RM167.69 million.
Consumer products and services accounted for 228.81 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (251.51 million), construction (117.09 million), technology (16.88 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (36.46 million), property (117.09 million), plantations (16.88 million), REITs (12.93 million), closed/fund (8,400), energy (451.98 million), healthcare (16.75 million), telecommunications and media (120.67 million), transportation and logistics (44.19 million) and utilities (13.09 million).
The physical price of gold as at 5.00pm stood at RM193.64 per gramme, up 15 sen from RM193.49 at 5.00pm yesterday. — Bernama
