KLCI in the red as key heavyweights weigh

KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia saw a follow through selling pressure on Friday, pushing the benchmark index lower.

The FBM KLCI closed down 6.75 points, or 0.43% to 1,548.51. For the week, the benchmark index fell 1.74%.

Broader market sentiment was weak, with 620 losers outpacing 470 gainers and 412 counters which traded unchanged. Turnover was at 5.12 billion shares valued at RM4.18bil.

In today’s session, 21 of the KLCI-component stocks closed lower while nine counters chalked up gains.

Dealers said market sentiment was still affected by the heavy sell-off early this week and buying interest today’s was interspersed with profit-taking.

On Bursa Malaysia, Genetec was the top gainer, jumping 84 sen to RM36.02, followed by F&N, which added 52 sen to RM27.56 and Petronas Gas, which rose 50 sen to RM17.38.

On the other hand, Petronas Dagangan tumbled 76 sen to RM19.02, Nestle shed 70 sen to RM134 and SAM Engineering fell 48 sen to RM14.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong fell 26 sen to RM20.24, IOI Corp declined 14 sen to RM3.77 and Top Glove gave up 14 sen to RM3.06.

Top Glove posted a record net profit of RM7.87bil for the financial year ended Aug 31, 2021, but its fourth quarter earnings fell to RM607.94mil amid the very challenging operating environment.

Among the banks, Maybank fell four sen to RM8.25, Public Bank added five sen to RM4.06, CIMB rose two sen to RM4.82 and RHB Bank lost three sen to RM5.35.

Meanwhile, Asian benchmarks finished mostly higher with Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.58% and 0.33% respectively.

The Hang Seng index closed up 1.03% to 24,920.76 and Shanghai Composite Index added 0.19% to 3,613.97.