BURSA MALAYSIA ENDS LOWER ON PROFIT-TAKING

By Rosemarie Khoo Mohd Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia closed lower today in a tight trading range as investors took profits while adopting a wait-and-see approach amid a consolidation phase, said an analyst. 

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) shed 0.39 per cent or 6.34 points to its intraday low of 1,599.79 from Tuesday’s close of 1,606.13, ending below the key 1,600 level in the process.

The FBM KLCI, which opened 2.34 points higher at 1,608.47, hit an intraday high of 1,609.22 in the early morning session.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 907 to 341, while 451 counters were unchanged, 702 untraded and nine others suspended.

Turnover narrowed to 5.57 billion units valued at RM4.06 billion from Tuesday's 5.92 billion units worth RM4.14 billion.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that it believed today’s selling offers a good opportunity for investors to bargain hunt for stocks at lower levels, especially blue chips, and expects a prompt rebound in the FBM KLCI.

“We project the benchmark index to trend within the 1,600-1,620 range for the rest of the week,” said Thong. 

Regionally, the key indices ended mixed, with the positive sentiment sparked by a rally in US tech stocks, while soft United States (US) retail sales data reinforced expectations of a Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cut later this year.

On the local bourse, heavyweights Petronas Dagangan slid 40 sen to RM17.38, Press Metal dipped 10 sen to RM5.78, IOI Corp and Genting Bhd trimmed 6.0 sen each to RM3.75 and RM4.70 respectively, and TM shed 8.0 sen to RM6.73. 

For top losers, Dutch Lady Milk Industries fell 74 sen to RM36.86, SHL eased 24 sen to RM2.54, Chin Hin dropped 21 sen to RM3.13, and Malaysia Pacific Industries sank 20 sen to RM39.70.

Among the most active counters, Top Glove lost 3.0 sen to RM1.14, Jaks Resources gained 1.0 sen to 19 sen, JCY shed half-a-sen to 82.5 sen, MYEG slid 1.0 sen to RM1.06, and Dagang NeXchange eased half-a-sen to 49.5 sen. 

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 73.10 points to 12,292.04, the FBMT 100 Index gave up 65.62 points to 11,867.50, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index tumbled 104.50 points to 12,634.87.

The FBM 70 Index decreased 174.13 points to 17,931.08, and the FBM ACE Index dived 53.07 points to 5,796.20.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dropped 42.64 points to 17,477.05, the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 2.18 points to 197.49, the Energy Index trimmed 4.96 points to 983.38, and the Plantation Index was 27.30 points lower at 7,003.17.

The Main Market volume narrowed to 3.31 billion units worth RM3.52 billion from 3.41 billion units worth RM3.58 billion on Tuesday.

Warrants turnover advanced to 1.19 billion units valued at RM162.56 million compared with 1.27 billion units worth RM186.09 million yesterday.

The ACE Market volume dwindled to 1.05 billion shares worth RM377.50 million against 1.24 billion shares valued at RM379.17 million previously.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 447.94 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (782.21 million), construction (376.41 million), technology (536.57 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (107.32 million), property (263.85 million), plantation (27.80 million), REITs (21.06 million), closed/fund (16,000), energy (210.60 million), healthcare (246.15 million), telecommunications and media (45.04 million), transportation and logistics (95.59 million), utilities (163.49 million), and business trusts (448,700).

-- BERNAMA