Bursa Malaysia Ends Lower In Broad-based Retreat

By Nurul Jannah Kamaruddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Bursa Malaysia ended lower on Thursday following broad-based selling amid cautious sentiment.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slid 5.42 points to 1,664.82 from Wednesday's close of 1,670.24, with YTL Corp and YTL Power dragging the index down significantly.

The benchmark index, which opened 0.31 of-a-point higher at 1,670.55, moved between 1,677.46 and 1,663.18 during the day.

In the broader market, decliners trounced gainers 821 to 306, with 426 counters unchanged, 902 untraded and eight suspended.

Turnover was higher at 3.28 billion units valued at RM3.41 billion compared with Wednesday's 3.04 billion units worth RM2.89 billion.

UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said the market was spooked by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation into a RM4 billion service tender awarded in 2011. 

Nevertheless, he said today's decline appeared to be driven by short-term fears and would be temporary.

"Despite the dip, many stocks within the index have shown resilience, with half of the (FBM KLCI) components delivering positive returns led by plantation and agriculture stocks," he told Bernama.

He also expressed optimism that the FBM KLCI will surpass 1,670 this week despite today’s weaker performance, bolstered by Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to maintain the policy rate.

“Globally, investors will be closely monitoring key employment data, culminating in the release of the August non-farm payrolls report on Friday,” he said.

Among heavyweight stocks, YTL Corp tumbled 30 sen to RM2.70 while YTL Power slid 20 sen to RM3.69.

Yesterday, YTL Power confirmed that the MACC had requested information from its subsidiary YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms) concerning the 1Bestarinet project.

Meanwhile, Maybank was flat at RM10.80, Public Bank eased one sen to RM4.75, and CIMB gained one sen to RM8.22.

Among the active counters, newly-listed Steel Hawk settled at 34.5 sen, up 130 per cent or 19.5 sen from the offer price of 15 sen per share.

MYEG rose one sen to 91.5 sen, Bahvest Resources advanced four sen to 53.5 sen, TA Win was flat at 2.5 sen, and Cape EMS declined 1.5 sen to 34 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 56.09 points to 12,372.67, the FBM Emas Shariah Index dropped 50.75 points to 12,174.19, and the FBMT 100 Index eased 47.44 points to 12,080.95. 

The FBM 70 Index fell 98.36 points to 17,271.93 while the FBM ACE Index lost 76.83 points to 5,081.10.

By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 4.81 points to 19,647.96, but the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 0.70 of-a-point to 177.37, the Energy Index slid 9.8 points to 887.92, and the Plantation Index trimmed 26.75 points to 7,225.09.

The Main Market volume improved to 1.72 billion units worth RM3.08 billion from 1.62 billion units worth RM2.59 billion on Wednesday.

Warrant turnover widened to 997.61 million units valued at RM114.19 million from 816.31 million units valued at RM100.37 million previously.

The ACE Market volume narrowed to 568.84 million shares worth RM214.14 million from 607.66 million shares worth RM196.10 million yesterday.

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 205.33 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (378.22 million), construction (150.94 million), technology (301.71 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (138.30 million), property (202.64 million), plantation (18.45 million), REITs (17.89 million), closed/fund (400), energy (82.68 million), healthcare (47.06 million), telecommunications and media (24.25 million), transportation and logistics (42.37 million), utilities (105.38 million), and business trusts (68,500).

-- BERNAMA