KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 — Bursa Malaysia’s key index finished marginally lower today amid the mixed regional market performance with the closure of the United States (US) markets for the Independence Day holiday.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 3.40 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,392.49 from 1,395.89 at Monday’s close.
The key index opened 2.33 points lower at 1,393.56 this morning and moved between 1,388.85 and 1,396.33 throughout the session.
However, the broader market was positive as gainers trounced losers 408 to 388, while 421 counters were unchanged, 1,028 untraded and 27 others suspended.
Turnover decreased marginally to 2.60 billion units worth RM1.57 billion versus 2.61 billion units worth RM1.50 billion yesterday.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the FBM KLCI pared earlier losses to end slightly lower as buying in commodity-related stocks and support for banking counters emerged in the afternoon session.
“The key regional markets closed mixed, with profit-taking in several bourses following yesterday’s strong rally.
“Meanwhile, China and Hong Kong were slightly positive on improving geopolitical relations between the US and China, as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing from July 6-9 for diplomatic talks,” he told Bernama.
On the home front, Thong believes that investor sentiment will remain stable as consensus expects the overnight policy rate to remain unchanged at the upcoming Bank Negara Malaysia’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting scheduled on July 5-6.
“As such, we foresee the FBM KLCI trending within the range of 1,390-1,405 for the rest of the week, with immediate resistance at 1,400 and support at 1,373,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, CIMB rose four sen to RM5.20, Tenaga Nasional added three sen to RM9.13, Maybank and IHH Healthcare eased five sen each to RM8.70 and RM5.83, respectively, and Public Bank slid three sen to RM3.91.
Of the actives, Naim Holdings surged 24 sen to 88.5 sen, Farm Fresh lost five sen to RM1.14, KNM eased one sen to eight sen, while Fitters Diversified and Sarawak Consolidated were flat at four sen and 47 sen respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index dipped 13.73 points to 10,258.82, the FBMT 100 Index declined 18.50 points to 9,955.80, the FBM Emas Shariah Index gave up 4.50 points to 10,530.38, the FBM ACE Index dropped 20.71 points to 5,094.87, and the FBM 70 Index shed 0.53 of-a-point to 13,531.10.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index trimmed 34.91 points to 15,483.17, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.10 of-a-point to 158.80, the Energy Index increased 4.27 points to 792.41, and the Plantation Index climbed 2.26 points to 6,829.74.
The Main Market volume rose to 1.90 billion units valued at RM1.33 billion from 1.80 billion units valued at RM1.26 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover dwindled to 269.65 million units worth RM43.63 million against 333.22 million units worth RM60.90 million yesterday.
The ACE Market volume decreased to 429.28 million shares valued at RM193.23 million from 483.43 million shares valued at RM179.48 million previously.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 417.34 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (534.08 million); construction (115.91 million); technology (154.31 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (43.00 million); property (256.49 million); plantation (31.96 million); REITs (4.54 million), closed/fund (35,200); energy (176.70 million); healthcare (56.88 million); telecommunications and media (28.13 million); transportation and logistics (38.26 million); and utilities (43.85 million). — Bernama