KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 3 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower for the third consecutive day, in tandem with the regional selldown following a negative cue from global equities overnight.
At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 2.71 points to 1,441.85 from 1,444.56 points at the close on Wednesday.
The key index opened 3.19 points weaker at 1,441.37 and moved between 1,433.04 and 1,442.78 points throughout the day.
On the overall market, losers thumped gainers 510 to 361, while 431 counters were unchanged, 970 untraded and 13 others were suspended.
Turnover stood at 2.94 billion units worth RM1.65 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said the US economy is under scrutiny as investors assess the country’s ability to steer clear of an expected recession that many had foreseen due to the consecutive interest rate increases designed to temper inflation.
On a positive note, the Caixin survey by S&P Global revealed that China’s services sector witnessed significant expansion in July, indicating a stronger pace of growth.
Thong anticipates this would create positive spillover effects on markets in the region, including Malaysia.
As for the local bourse, he reckons that the recent selldown would provide opportunities for investors to accumulate stocks at attractive levels given their cheaper valuations.
“Having said this, investors should remain cautious about external factors given the increasing regional market volatility and uncertainties in the global economic prospects.
“Under normal conditions, without any unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate the FBM KLCI to trend between the 1,435 and 1,445 point range towards the weekend. Technically speaking, we see the immediate resistance at 1,460 points and support at 1,440 points.”
Heavyweights, Maybank fell five sen to RM8.90, Public Bank lost four sen to RM4.09, CIMB and Tenaga Nasional decreased one sen each to RM5.46 and RM9.56, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals added 10 sen to RM6.85.
Of the actives, UEM Sunrise shed 1.5 sen to 49 sen, while Classita rose 3.5 sen to 16 sen, while Malaysian Resources Corp, Mudajaya and Komarkcorp were all flat at 37.5 sen, 18.5 sen and 4.0 sen, respectively.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 18.43 points to 10,593.22, the FBMT 100 Index was 17.67 points weaker at 10,288.01, the FBM Emas Shariah Index eased 2.72 points to 10,869.73, and the FBM 70 Index fell 16.92 points to 13,894.96, while the FBM ACE Index rose 12.96 points to 5,301.85.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index slipped 60.42 points to 16,062.97 and the Energy Index shed 7.61 points to 824.86, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched up 0.06 of-a-point to 165.83, and the Plantation Index climbed 3.81 points to 7,104.70.
The Main Market volume expanded to 2.11 billion units valued at RM1.42 billion from 1.81 billion units valued at RM1.61 billion on Wednesday.
Warrants turnover slid to 400.86 million units worth RM64.59 million versus 451.29 million units worth RM76.58 million previously.
The ACE Market volume tumbled to 418.03 million shares valued at RM165.84 million compared to 527.29 million shares valued at RM192.50 million yesterday.
— Bernama
