KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended the trading week almost flat on weak sentiment, in line with most regional peers despite the upbeat Wall Street performance overnight, said an analyst.
At 5 pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) eased 0.85 of-a-point or 0.06 per cent to end at 1,456.80 from Thursday's close of 1,457.65.
The index opened 1.01 points firmer at 1,458.66 and moved between 1,448.09 and 1,460.19 throughout the trading day.
On the broader market, decliners led advancers 537 to 419, while 386 counters were unchanged, 893 untraded and 28 others suspended.
Turnover increased to 3.43 billion units worth RM2.58 billion from Thursday's 3.33 billion units worth RM2.25 billion.
Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd vice-president of equity research Thong Pak Leng told Bernama that the benchmark index was dragged down by Petronas Chemicals, which reported weaker-than-expected fourth quarter financial earnings ended Dec 31, 2022 due to slow demand and higher costs.
Petronas Chemicals lost 60 sen or 7.12 per cent to RM7.20, with 22.78 million shares traded.
Other Bursa Malaysia heavyweights Maybank advanced five sen to RM8.74, Public Bank added one sen to RM4.13, TNB advanced seven sen to RM9.72, CIMB was flat at RM5.47, and Press Metal
declined seven sen to RM5.20.
As for active stocks, MY EG climbed five sen to 73.5 sen, Velesto went up 3.5 sen to 27.5 sen, Perdana Petroleum rose 1.5 sen to 19.5 sen, Sapura Energy was flat at 4.5 sen, and MTAG Group dipped 18 sen to 42.5 sen. - Bernama
