Bloodbath across regional peers drags Bursa Malaysia lower

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- A bloodbath across regional stock markets dragged Bursa Malaysia to close lower on Monday, led by technology stocks, primarily due to fears of a recession in the United States (US), a dealer said. 

The negative sentiment today affected all regional peers, with a steep fall seen in Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index, which dropped over 4,000 points or over 12 per cent.

At 5 pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 74.57 points or 4.62 per cent to 1,536.48 from Friday's close of 1,611.05.

The market bellwether opened 17.69 points weaker at 1,593.36 -- -- its highest level today -- before falling to as low as 1,532.24 during the mid-afternoon session.

On the broader market, losers thumped gainers 1,658 to 83, with 131 counters unchanged, 533 untraded, and eight others suspended.

Turnover soared to 9.26 billion units worth RM7.97 billion from Friday’s 5.17 billion units worth RM3.98 billion.

The higher turnover recorded was at 12.66 billion on March 17, 2021.

Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd equity research vice-president Thong Pak Leng said although these signs of a US economic hard landing were anticipated, the investing community has largely ignored them, focusing instead on Wall Street's record-breaking run since early this year.

The US jobs growth slowed more than expected in July, while the unemployment rate increased to 4.3 per cent compared with 4.1 per cent in June.

"Without speculating further, we believe it is time to consider a 'Buy-on-Weakness' approach as today's sell-off on Bursa has been excessive," he told Bernama.

He expects the local market to be supported at current levels, especially as Government-linked Investment Companies have reduced their foreign equity holdings since early this year.

"Despite the US market facing multiple headwinds, we see this as an opportunity to accumulate on weakness," he pointed out. 

Hence, he said support for the FBM KLCI is potted at 1,530 followed by 1,500.

Looking ahead, Apex Securities Bhd head of research Kenneth Leong said concerns over sluggish US economic growth remain to the fore.

"Still, we reckon any further pullback may present an opportunity for longer-term investors to bargain hunt for beaten down stocks.

"Investors will be keeping a close tab on the US ISM Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) data later tonight,” he said.

Regionally, Japan's Nikkei Index plunged 4,451.28 points or 12.40 per cent to 31,458.42, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index decreased 1.46 per cent to 16,698.36, Shanghai SSE Composite Index was down by 1.54 per cent to 2,860.70, Singapore’s STI Index declined 4.07 per cent to 3,243.67, and Indonesia’s IDX Composite Index decreased by 3.40 per cent to 7,059.65.

Meanwhile, on the local bourse today, the short selling of a total of 19 companies under the Intraday Short Selling (IDSS) has been suspended for the rest of the day as the Last Done Price of the Approved Securities dropped more than 15 per cent/15 Sen from the Reference Price. The companies included SP Setia, Mah Sing and Sime Darby Property.

In a filing, Bursa Malaysia said the short selling under IDSS for those companies will only be activated the following trading day, that is Tuesday, Aug 6, 2024, at 8:30 am.

Among Bursa Malaysia heavyweights, Maybank went down 34 sen to RM9.90, Public Bank fell 15 sen to RM4.13, Tenaga Nasional sank 80 sen to RM13.16, CIMB dropped 39 sen to RM7.01, and IHH Healthcare slipped 18 sen to RM6.07.

Of the actives,  MY E.G slipped 14.5 sen to 82.5 sen, Velesto Energy shed two sen to 19.5 sen, WCT dipped 14 sen to 98 sen, Top Glove declined 9.5 sen to 88.5 sen, while Pegasus Heights was flat at one sen.  

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index tumbled 697.60 points to 11,605.90, the FBMT 100 Index fell 647.59 points to 11,272.36, the FBM Emas Shariah Index shrank 779.28 points at 11,668.87, the FBM ACE Index dipped 515.33 points to 4,955.08, and the FBM 70 Index plunged 1,325.91 points to 16,576.89.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index declined 684.84 points to 17,546.75, the Energy Index shaved off 76.44 points to 852.71, the Plantation Index was 254.97 points weaker at 6,888.64, the Technology Index shed 6.50 points to 64.81, and the Industrial Products and Services Index eased 14.37 points to 171.13.

The Main Market volume surged to 6.16 billion units valued at RM7.38 billion from 3.22 billion units valued at RM3.59 billion on Friday.

Warrants turnover advanced to 1.59 billion units worth RM150.87 million from 1.10 billion units worth RM128.67 million previously.

The ACE Market volume swelled to 1.49 billion shares valued at RM436.90 million from 847.38 million shares valued at RM260.33 million last Friday.  

Consumer products and services counters accounted for 875.10 million shares traded on the Main Market, industrial products and services (1.20 billion), construction (697.09 million), technology (773.16 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (305.83 million), property (904.86 million), plantation (66.31 million), REITs (49.62 million), closed/fund (187,700), energy (532.24 million), healthcare (237.31 million), telecommunications and media (107.98 million), transportation and logistics (181.28 million), utilities (225.02 million), and business trusts (2.40 million).

-- BERNAMA