KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended at an intraday low of 1,420.38 with selling pressure seen across the board amidst weak regional market sentiments, dealers said.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) declined by 31.23 points or 2.15 per cent, compared to Wednesday’s close of 1,451.61.
The benchmark index opened 3.29 points lower from its intraday high of 1,448.32.
On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 660 to 238, while 361 counters were unchanged, 1,066 untraded and nine others suspended.
Turnover was higher at 2.63 billion units valued at RM1.89 billion versus 2.49 billion units valued at RM1.78 billion on Wednesday.
Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd senior analyst Kenneth Leong said the local bourse remained in the red throughout the day spooked by the hawkish remarks from the US Federal Reserve over the pace of future interest rate hikes as inflationary pressure persists.
He said the weakness was also largely in tandem with mostly negative performances across regional peers.
Back home, Bank Negara has delivered another 25 basis points rate hike to 2.75 per cent, which is largely in line with consensus expectations.
Moving forward, the focus will shift to the impending release of a barrage of corporate earnings as well as the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15).
“With the FBM KLCI slipping below the 1,430 support level, we reckon that downside risks remain prevalent with the next support located at 1,410 while resistance is at 1,465,” he told Bernama.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng predicts that the FBM KLCI would consolidate in the near term due to negative sentiment globally although bargain hunting may prevail.
“We anticipate the benchmark index to trend sideways within 1,415-1,430 towards the weekend,” he added.
On the local bourse, heavyweights Maybank lost 13 sen to RM8.41, Petronas Chemicals fell 15 sen to RM8.50, CIMB decreased 14 sen to RM5.35, Tenaga Nasional slipped 17 sen to RM8.23 and Public Bank went down 9.0 sen to RM4.36.
Among the actives, Top Glove slid 9.0 sen to 72 sen, and both Advance Synergy and Alam Maritim declined half-a-sen each to 6.5 sen and 1.5 sen respectively.
Citaglobal added 1.5 sen to 29 sen and Solution rose 2.0 sen to 32 sen.
More to come...