KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended in the morning trading session in red, dampened by across-the-board selling following bearish regional sentiment.
At midday, FBM KLCI closed 3.66 points, or 0.21% lower at 1,777.99 points alongside dips in regional markets. Broader market sentiment continued to be weak, with 427 losers outpacing 252 gainers and 350 counters which traded unchanged. Turnover was at 726.8 million shares valued at RM744.74mil.
Analysts said the sentiment was slightly bearish on increasing geopolitical tensions with North Korea including a threat of “fire and fury” from the US President Donald Trump.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its winning streak, finishing with a loss of 33.1 points, or 0.2%. Earlier European stocks advanced following encouraging quarterly results.
With the heightened geopolitical jittery, coupled with the upcoming US core CPI data, Hong Leong Investment Bank Research (HLIB) believes it may be the start of the retracement process on Wall Street and the Dow’s upside may be capped around 22,200, while the support will be located near the 22,000.
“Meanwhile, sentiments on our local front would stay mixed with cautious trading sentiment. The heavyweights are likely to extend its gradual upward move, while profit taking activities may be seen among small cap and lower liners.
“Nevertheless, traders are likely to bargain hunt on technology stocks following the recent sharp fall,” HLIB said.
On Bursa Malaysia, KESM was the top loser, shedding 44 sen to RM14.34, Petron Malaysia
fell 37 sen to RM8.93 and Aeon Credit declined 26 sen to at RM12.62.
Shares of Hartalaga, which saw its net profit jumped 71% net profit in the first quarter ended June 30, 2017, fell 23 sen to RM6.92.
Affin Hwang Capital Researh has downgraded Hartalega to “hold” on valuations with a target price of RM7.20 following the announcement of its 1QFY18 results yesterday. The research house says Hartalega has delivered another impressive set of results for the quarter, despite the shorter working period owing to Hari Hari and stronger Ringgit performance.
Among the heavyweights, Maybank fell four sen to RM9.76, Tenaga Nasional dropped two sen to RM14.20, Digi eased one sen to RM4.79, Genting slid five sen to RM9.75 while Petronas Gas declined four sen to RM18.88.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Wednesday after North Korea said it was considering a missile strike on U.S Pacific territory Guam, rattling financial markets and prompting investors to seek havens such as gold and the yen.
Asian shares and U.S. stock futures fell on Wednesday, and the dollar skidded 0.4% against its perceived safe-haven Japanese counterpart, plumbing its lowest levels since mid-June.
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