KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Bursa Malaysia gave up earlier gains to slip lower for a fourth straight day as investors brushed off the country’s stronger-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) data in the first quarter of 2023 (1Q 2023), with a 5.6 per cent expansion year-on-year (y-o-y), thereby beating consensus expectations.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said, however, the GDP performance was at a slower pace compared with 4Q 2022, which recorded a growth of 7.1 per cent y-o-y.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased by 0.15 per cent, or 2.26 points, to close at its intraday low of 1,422.92 from Thursday’s close of 1,425.18.
The barometer index opened slightly higher at 1,426.48 and hit an intraday high of 1,429.92 in the morning session.
The market breadth was negative with losers beating gainers 500 to 346, while 417 counters were unchanged, 998 untraded and 32 others suspended.
Turnover decreased to 2.74 billion units valued at RM1.77 billion from 3.39 billion units valued at RM1.62 billion on Thursday.
Leong expects economic growth in the upcoming quarters to continue to moderate due to the easing of private consumption amid the ongoing inflation and higher interest rates environment that sapped purchasing power.
"Looking ahead, investors may be keeping a close tab on the upcoming flurry of corporate earnings releases across Bursa Malaysia,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI was marginally lower in tandem with the negative performance of global equities.
He noted the key regional indices were mostly lower amid worries over the United States (US) financial problems as the US government is edging closer to a June 1 deadline wherein it could run out of cash unless Congress agrees to increase its debt ceiling.
On the home front, heavyweights Maybank lost five sen to RM8.69, Public Bank fell four sen to RM3.97, Petronas Chemicals slid 13 sen to RM7.03, while CIMB was flat at RM4.95.
Tenaga Nasional added 37 sen to RM9.46.
As for the actives, Vinvest decreased 3.5 sen to 16 sen, Dagang NeXchange went down 3.0 sen to 43 sen, and both Bahvest and BSL Corp slipped half-a-sen each to 12.5 sen and 4.5 sen, respectively, while Autocount perked up 1.5 sen to 69 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slid 15.27 points to 10,415.65, the FBMT 100 Index erased 16.13 points to 10,111.39, the FBM ACE Index declined 41.72 points to 4,984.48, and the FBM 70 index slipped 21.79 points to 13,488.16.
The FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed by 7.37 points to 10,775.92.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index shed 1.35 points to 167.12, the Energy Index eased 2.42 points to 829.39 and the Financial Services Index trimmed 74.93 points to 15,513.28.
The Plantation Index put on 42.35 points to 6,956.66.
The Main Market volume went down to 1.70 billion units valued at RM1.50 billion from 2.13 billion units valued at RM1.36 billion on Thursday.
Warrants turnover improved to 338.39 million units worth RM54.18 million against 313.53 million units worth RM47.96 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume tumbled to 699.03 million shares valued at RM215.96 million versus 955.12 million shares valued at RM215.66 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 341.54 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (568.56 million); construction (55.30 million); technology (213.86 million); SPAC (nil), financial services (66.48 million); property (146.73 million); plantation (23.77 million); REITs (5.06 million), closed/fund (60,000); energy (96.90 million); healthcare (83.24 million); telecommunications and media (40.85 million); transportation and logistics (23.95 million); and utilities (38.87 million). — Bernama