KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed almost flat on Tuesday as buying interest rotated away from index heavyweights towards smaller-cap construction stocks, with sentiment affected by geopolitical uncertainty, said an analyst. At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.39 of a point to 1,714.40 from Monday’s close of 1,714.79. The benchmark index opened 1.65 points lower at 1,713.14 and moved between 1,710.44 and 1,714.50 throughout the trading session. The broader market was almost evenly balanced, with decliners leading gainers 548 to 546, while 598 counters were unchanged, 1,107 were untraded and 25 were suspended. Turnover expanded to 4.13 billion units valued at RM3.14 billion from 3.60 billion units valued at RM2.45 billion on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 16): Malaysian stocks swung back into the red today, wiping out gains made over the last two days as investors cashed in on profits.
The benchmark FBM KLCI traded in negative territory throughout the day to close down 8.67 points or 0.48% at 1,777.27 points. Market breadth was negative with 515 losers and 290 gainers.
A total of 2.11 billion worth of shares were traded for RM1.91 billion compared with 2.4 billion shares worth RM2.03 billion on Wednesday.
According to Hong Leong Investment Bank head of retail research Loui Low, investors in index-linked counters are likely to stay in profit-taking mode amid uncertainty over Turkey's economy and the US-China trade war fears.
However, he noted that beneficiaries of the weaker ringgit, which has fallen in line with other emerging market currencies, include export-driven counters such as Unisem (M) Bhd, which has seen a slight uptick in its share price.
Although the trade war between China and the US may affect these export-driven companies in the long term, Low said they could see improvements in earnings in the near term as long as the US dollar continues to strengthen.
Advance Synergy Bhd, AHB Holdings Bhd and Nova MSC Bhd were the most actively traded counters on Bursa Malaysia today, while British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd, Heineken Malaysia Bhd and Petronas Gas Bhd led decliners.
Nestle (Malaysia) Bhd, Malaysia Pacific Industries Bhd and United Plantaitions Bhd were top gainers.
Asian markets were battered to one-year lows amid growing fears over Turkey's currency crisis and an economic slowdown in China, Reuters reported.
Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.06% while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.3%. Both Shanghai Composite Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.8%.
Another sector that witnessed a drag was technology stocks, which were pressured by the performance of Tencent Holdings Ltd after it registered its first decline in quarterly profit in almost 13 years on poor gaming revenue, Reuters said.
Source: The Edge
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