Bursa Malaysia closes in red but above 1,500

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia ended in negative territory today, dragged by selling in selected heavyweights including Petronas-linked companies.

At 5pm, the key FBM KLCI fell 4.41 points, or 0.29% to close at 1,502.63 after moving between 1,496.99 and 1,507.38 throughout the day.

Market breadth turned negative as losers overpowered the gainers on a ratio of 409-to-556 stocks. Total volume stood at 5.38 billion shares worth RM2.6bil.

Of the 30 component stocks, 29 closed higher while nine fell. Malaysia Airport contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 14.2% to RM5.79.

Dealers said some energy-related stocks succumbed to selling pressure on Bursa Malaysia. They added that the trading volume was much lower today as investors seem to prefer to stay on the sidelines.

Leading laggards on the KLCI is Petronas Dagang, down RM1.04 to RM21.64. It dragged the index down by 1.5839 points. Tenaga Nasional fell 14 sen to RM11.74, pushing the index lower by 1.2243 points and Maxis shed seven sen to RM5.33, nudging the index lower by 0.8392 points.

Petronas Gas fell six sen to RM17.10 and Petronas Chemicals unchanged at RM6.43.

Earlier, Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) reportedly withdrew its appeal at the Court of Appeal over Sarawak’s sales tax dispute.

The Sarawak government and Petronas will settle their dispute over a RM2bil state sales tax (SST) out of court, with the latter expected to withdraw its appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Advancers on the broader market include Heineken Malaysia, Carlsberg Brewery and ViTrox Corp. Heineken added 96 sen to RM22.88, Carlsberg rose 60 sen to RM24.10 and ViTrox advanced 35 sen to RM9.15.

Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 125.76 points or 0.5%, at 24,781.58.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei average closed 0.07% lower at 22,534.32 while South Korea’s Kospi ended 1.42% higher at 2,161.51.

China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3% at 2,979.55, while the blue-chip CSI300 index added 0.42%.

China's stock market will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Dragon Boat Festival.