KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — Bursa Malaysia ended lower today as investors offloaded selected heavyweight stocks, with Top Glove Corporation Bhd and Maxis Bhd leading the retreat, dealers said.
At 5pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 6.30 points to 1,531.33 from yesterday’s close of 1,537.63.
Top Glove and Maxis shed nine sen each to RM2.49 and RM4.58 respectively, altogether dragging the barometer index down by 2.58 points.
The index, which opened 5.52 points higher at 1,543.15, fluctuated between 1,530.35 and 1,543.87 during the day.
On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 647 to 322, while 443 counters were unchanged, 863 untraded, and 19 others suspended.
Turnover slipped to 3.42 billion units valued at RM2.35 billion from yesterday’s 3.65 billion units valued at RM2.71 billion.
A dealer said Bursa Malaysia had opened higher after taking its cue from the stronger Wall Street performance overnight, but turned lower across the board at mid-morning, except for the healthcare and financial services sectors which saw continued buying interest and supported the barometer index.
He said the local bourse’s performance was in line with regional peers which ended mostly lower today as investors awaited comments from the US Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later today for market direction.
“The US central bank is expected to disclose plans to ease pandemic stimulus measures and boost the economy,” he said.
Regionally, Singapore’s Straits Times Index trimmed 0.37 per cent to 3,220.40, South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.25 per cent to 2,975.71 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 0.30 per cent to 25,024.75 while Japan is closed for a holiday.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid told Bernama that the FBM KLCI is still reeling from the impact of Cukai Makmur or prosperity tax as corporates will need to take into account the impact of the windfall tax on their earnings.
“Despite that, we saw foreign investors recording net purchases yesterday amounting to RM59.85 million compared to net purchases of RM14.97 million on Monday as they saw values emerging in some the local stocks and started to acquire,” he said.
On another note, he said the latest move by Bank Negara Malaysia to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) at 1.75 per cent today indicated that the central bank is committed to ensuring that the monetary policy remains supportive of the country’s economy.
“This would mean the cost of funds remains competitive, thereby stimulating capital expenditure among the firms. In the meantime, we expect range-bound trade amid the holiday-shortened week,” he added.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank gained one sen to RM8.00, Petronas Chemicals added three sen to RM8.31, IHH Healthcare rose six sen to RM6.52, Tenaga eased two sen to RM9.58 while Public Bank was flat at RM4.04.
Of the actives, NWP Holdings bagged six sen to 30 sen, Sedania perked up 6.5 sen to 69.5 sen, Dagang Nexchange reduced four sen to 78.5 sen, AirAsia X slid one sen to 4.5 sen while Sapura Energy was flat at 10 sen.
On the index boards, the FBM Emas Index decreased 39.98 points to 11,358.51, the FBMT 100 Index declined 32.29 points to 10,984.73, the FBM Emas Shariah Index slipped 57.94 points to 12,399.65 and the FBM ACE contracted 48.51 points to 7,073.96.
However, the FBM 70 improved 5.91 points to 15,091.21.
Sector-wise, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 0.30 of-a-point to 203.05, the Plantation Index gave up 54.42 points to 6,788.50 while the Financial Services Index inched up 7.28 points to 15,187.09.
The Main Market volume declined to 2.29 billion shares worth RM2 billion from 2.35 billion shares worth RM2.33 billion yesterday.
Warrants turnover decreased to 264.64 million units worth RM42.79 million versus 395.01 million units worth RM72.67 million yesterday.
Volume on the ACE Market fell to 856.90 million shares valued at RM313.42 million from yesterday’s 908.16 million shares valued at RM304.85 million.
Consumer products and services counters accounted for 382.18 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (826.08 million), construction (188.99 million), technology (315.82 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (56.11 million), property (136.43 million), plantation (15.86 million), REITs (6.02 million), closed/fund (2,200), energy (202.90 million), healthcare (57.09 million), telecommunications and media (22 million), transportation and logistics (66.29 million), and utilities (18.38 million).
Bursa Malaysia and its subsidiaries will be closed tomorrow in conjunction with Deepavali. — Bernama
