Market Daily Report: Bursa closes marginally lower

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 3): Bursa Malaysia closed lower for the third consecutive day, in tandem with the regional selldown following the 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 at Wednesday’s (Aug 2) close. 

The key index opened 3.19 points weaker at 1,441.37 and moved between 1,433.04 and 1,442.78 throughout the day.

On the overall market, decliners thumped advancers 510 to 361, while 431 counters were unchanged, 970 untraded and 13 others 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 the 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 activity witnessed significant expansion in July, indicating a stronger pace of growth.

Hence, Thong anticipated that this would create positive spillover effects on regional markets including Malaysia.

As for the local bourse, he reckoned 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 within the 1,435-1,445 range towards the weekend. Technically speaking, we see the immediate resistance at 1,460 and support at 1,440,” he said.

Heavyweights, Maybank Bhd fell five sen to RM8.90, Public Bank Bhd lost four sen to RM4.09, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Bhd dropped one sen each to RM5.46 and RM9.56, respectively, while Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd added 10 sen to RM6.85.

Of the actives, UEM Sunrise Bhd went down 1.5 sen to 49 sen, while Classita Holdings Bhd rose 3.5 sen to 16 sen, while Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd, Mudajaya Group Bhd and Komarkcorp Bhd were all flat at 37.5 sen, 18.5 sen and four 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 7,104.7.

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 on Wednesday. 

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 639.4 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (274.16 million); construction (257.15 million); technology (120.08 million); SPAC (nil); financial services (47.33 million); property (388.65 million); plantation (24.92 million); REITs (9.17 million), closed/fund (25,500); energy (146.33 million); healthcare (59.78 million); telecommunications and media (35.32 million); transportation and logistics (29.98 million); and utilities (81.75 million).

Source: The Edge