KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 — Bursa Malaysia ended the week on a lower note, pressured by last-minute acceleration in selling activities led by finance-linked stocks and lower liners, amid cautious sentiment due to the generally sluggish corporate earnings undertone.

At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 1.92 per cent or 29.57 points weaker at 1,525.21 from Thursday’s close of 1,554.78.

The barometer index opened 0.27 of-a-point higher at 1,555.05 and moved between 1,525.21 and 1,558.29 throughout the session.

Market breadth was almost flat as losers barely beat gainers 588 to 552, while 393 counters were unchanged, 516 untraded and 68 others suspended.

Total volume shrank to 11.15 billion shares valued at RM8.25 billion from Thursday’s 13.71 billion shares valued at RM5.55 billion.

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer and fund manager Danny Wong Teck Meng said the last 10 minutes of heavy selling was probably due to the rebalancing of portfolios at the end of the month.

"We think the securities of Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd which will be added as constituents of MSCI Global Standard Indexes at the end of this month and dropping IJM Corp Bhd from the list, may cause the index to fall further.

"Because of the rebalancing of portfolios, we think some blue chips need to be sold off and buy more (shares) of Kossan and Supermax,” he told Bernama.

Supermax also led the top gainers, adding RM1.94 to RM22.14, MPI increased 66 sen to RM15.70 and Kossan rose 58 sen to RM15.98.

Meanwhile, Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee Shen Pin said besides the realignment of portfolios at month-end, the overall market consolidation was considered quite healthy as losers and gainers were almost equal.

"We think investors were also clearing their positions ahead of the long weekend,” said Yee.

Of the heavyweights, Hap Seng shed 68 sen to RM7.20, PPB Group declined RM1.26 to RM18.00 and Petronas Chemicals dropped 35 sen to RM5.46. 

Maybank shed 13 sen to RM7.33, Top Glove fell 12 sen to RM26.28, Public Bank slid 20 sen to RM16.42, Tenaga went down 26 sen to RM10.86, and Hartalega dropped 34 sen to RM16.52.

Among the actives, XOX dipped six sen to 26 sen, Konsortium Transnasional added five sen to 15.5 sen and Bumi Armada gained four sen to 27 sen.

Of the top losers, F&N shed RM2.18 to RM30.62, followed by PPB Group,, and Nestle lost 80 sen to RM139.20.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index decreased 126.01 points to 11,085.58, the FBMT 100 Index was 128.51 points weaker at 10,886.75 but the FBM 70 climbed 146.09 points to 14,747.39.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index reduced 124.93 points to 13,166.65 and the FBM ACE lost 227.67 points to 10,979.27.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 193.28 points to 12,642.77, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 3.76 points to 136.50 and the Plantation Index erased 24.76 points to 7,057.28.

Main Market volume decreased to 6.40 billion shares worth RM7.0 billion compared with 8.06 billion shares valued at RM4.10 billion on Thursday.

Warrants turnover widened to 549.36 million units valued at RM140.82 million versus 447.94 million units worth RM118.53 million yesterday.

Volume on the ACE Market narrowed to 4.19 billion shares worth RM1.10 billion against 5.19 billion shares worth RM1.32 billion previously.

Consumer products and services accounted for 1.42 billion shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.06 billion), construction (933.54 million), technology (431.18 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (96.93 million), property (920.08 million), plantations (103.92 million), REITs (8.21 million), closed/fund (10,100), energy (1.0 billion), healthcare (200.98 million), telecommunications and media (92.57 million), transportation and logistics (90.05 million), and utilities (41.94 million). — Bernama