KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower today after notching a small gain in early trade as profit-taking activities set in ahead of the Wesak Day public holiday tomorrow.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined 5.41 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 1,622.09 from yesterday’s close of 1,627.50.
The benchmark index, which opened 0.88 of-a-point firmer at 1,628.38, its intraday high, and hit a low of 1,620.80 in the mid-morning session.
On the broader market, losers led gainers 726 to 470, with 492 counters unchanged, 701 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover eased to 5.42 billion units worth RM4.22 billion compared to yesterday’s 6.98 billion units worth RM4.36 billion.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said profit-taking activities have seeped in, considering that the barometer index has gone up 2.9 per cent on a month-to-date basis.
“Banks, plantation as well as oil and gas are some of the industries which drove the benchmark index lower today,” he told Bernama.
Meanwhile, Bursa Malaysia in a posting on X today said that Malaysia’s benchmark index has outperformed the regional peers since the beginning of the year, which is 4.4 percentage points higher than the second-highest index.
Other than price performance, it said the FBM KLCI also recorded among the highest dividend yields.
Yesterday, shares on Bursa Malaysia breached the 1,620-point resistance level on Monday as funds poured in, lifting the key index to its highest since March 2021.
UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors’ head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said the recent significant gains in the local market have enticed investors to book profits.
“The market is still largely dominated by bullish sentiment, but trading may become volatile as corporate earnings take precedence,” he said.
Therefore, he anticipates the FBM KLCI index to fluctuate between 1,620 and 1,640 level this week, with support levels at 1,600 and 1,575, and resistance levels at 1,635 and 1,650.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank, Public Bank, Tenaga Nasional, and CIMB were unchanged at RM9.99, RM4.19, RM12.78, and RM6.84 respectively, while Petronas Chemicals shed six sen to RM7.03.
Of the actives, Ingenieur slipped one sen to seven sen, Feytech gained 30 sen to RM1.10, BCM Alliance added half-a-sen to 1.5 sen, YNH Property rose 2.5 sen to 47.5 sen, while DNeX was unchanged at 44.5 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 40.70 points to 12,357.84, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 38.84 points to 11,951.25, the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 52.19 points to 12,590.21, the FBM 70 Index slid 53.35 points to 17,728.17, while the FBM ACE Index climbed 3.84 points to 5,423.37.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index shed 34.03 points to 17,693.07, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 1.12 points to 196.67, the Plantation Index erased 110.03 points to 7,290.67, and the Energy Index declined 4.39 points to 993.79.
The Main Market volume decreased to 3.52 billion units worth RM3.80 billion from 4.56 billion units worth RM3.86 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover trimmed to 1.05 billion units valued at RM157.83 million from Monday’s closing of 1.37 billion units valued at RM196.59 million.
The ACE Market volume tumbled to 844.99 million shares worth RM264.71 million from 1.04 billion shares worth RM308.79 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 366.44 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.24 billion), construction (205.73 million), technology (461.07 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (142.77 million), property (415.93 million), plantation (41.33 million), REITs (31.27 million), closed/fund (29,800), energy (177.76 million), healthcare (171.94 million), telecommunications and media (58.83 million), transportation and logistics (134.24 million), utilities (70.68 million), and business trusts (644,500).
Bursa Malaysia Bhd and its subsidiaries will be closed tomorrow for the Wesak Day public holiday and resume operations on Thursday, May 23. — Bernama