Market Daily Report: Bursa closes slightly lower on profit-taking

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 10): Bursa Malaysia closed slightly lower on Thursday (Aug 10) due to profit-taking activities following Wednesday's rally, with some investors keeping to the sidelines awaiting fresh catalysts.

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI had eased 3.1 points to 1,458.93, from 1,462.03 at Wednesday’s close.

The barometer index opened 1.67 points lower at 1,460.36, and moved between 1,453.37 and 1,460.70 throughout the day.

On the broader market, decliners outpaced gainers 464 to 358, while 450 counters were unchanged, 1,015 untraded, and 12 others suspended.

Turnover decreased to 2.92 billion units worth RM1.83 billion, from 3.17 billion units worth RM2.19 billion on Wednesday.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although the market was down, he viewed it as a healthy correction, as it provided a good opportunity to accumulate stocks at a lower level.

“As such, we anticipate the KLCI to trend slightly higher within the 1,455 and 1,470 range towards the weekend. From a technical point of view, we spot the resistance level at 1,460, followed by 1,490, while support is unchanged at 1,440,” he told Bernama.

Elsewhere, Thong said key regional benchmarks trended mixed, as investors geared up for the release of US consumer price index data for July due later on Thursday.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, the Department of Statistics Malaysia announced that the unemployment rate edged down to 3.4% in June, with the number of unemployed persons further dropping to 581,700 persons.

Of the heavyweight stocks on Bursa, Public Bank Bhd shed two sen to RM4.15 a share, while Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) was flat at RM9.00. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd at RM5.66 and Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd at RM6.86 had added one sen each, while Tenaga Nasional Bhd advanced nine sen to RM9.73. IHH Healthcare Bhd rose six sen to RM6.00. 

Among the actives, Classita Holdings Bhd at 9.5 sen and Widad Group Bhd at 43 sen had slipped half a sen, while Velesto Energy Bhd trimmed one sen to 22 sen, and KNM Group Bhd inched up half a sen to nine sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index was 18.31 points lower at 10,701.39, the FBMT 100 Index dropped 18.78 points to 10,396.88, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 20.13 points to 10,923.66.

The FBM ACE Index shaved off 25.04 points to 5,290.72, and the FBM 70 Index declined 11.27 points to 13,986.99.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dumped 54.35 points to 16,302.84, the Industrial Products Services Index slipped 0.1 of a point to 166.99, and the Plantation Index erased 72.43 points to 7,097.41.

The Energy Index gained 1.98 points to 827.67.

The Main Market volume fell to 2.09 billion units valued at RM1.6 billion, from 2.34 billion units valued at RM1.94 billion on Wednesday.

Warrant turnover narrowed to 310.21 million units worth RM47.69 million, versus Wednesday’s 323.38 million units worth RM48.07 million.

The ACE Market volume, however, improved to 509.37 million shares valued at RM176.44 million, compared with 500.74 million shares valued at RM198.31 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 674.79 million shares traded on the Main Market, along with industrial products and services (314.69 million), construction (79.1 million), technology (82.17 million), special purpose acquisition companies (nil), financial services (73.88 million), property (244.41 million), plantation (36.23 million), real estate investment trusts (7.37 million), closed/funds (146,300), energy (46.16 million), healthcare (46.16 million), telecommunications and media (20.91 million), transportation and logistics (53.92 million), and utilities (54.71 million).

Source: The Edge