Selling pressure persists on Bursa Malaysia

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

At 5pm, the FBM KLCI closed 3.29 points, or 0.22% lower at 1,520.74. It has risen to an intraday high of 1,526.15.

Broader market sentiment was weak, with 502 losers outpacing 428 gainers while 451 counters traded unchanged. Turnover was at 3.43 billion shares valued at RM2.31bil.

While investors may remain on tenterhooks ahead of Melaka State election, Malacca Securities believed the bashed-down counters could be a sweet spot for bargain hunting activities, especially counters with solid earnings prospects.

Genetec was the top loser on Bursa Malaysia, falling 44 sen to RM45.78, followed by Widetec, which lost 25 sen to RM5.40, and Hong Seng, which declined 19 sen to RM3.40.

Heineken Malaysia jumped 38 sen to RM22.62, Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre added 36 sen to RM1.88 and Tafi rose 29 sen to RM3.83.

Among the heavyweights, Maybank closed unchanged at 7.99, Tenaga fell three sen to RM9.58, Genting lost three sen to RM5.35, Petronas Dagangan added 20 sen to RM20.50 and Telekom Malaysia climbed three sen to RM5.58.

Meanwhile, regional markets closed broadly lower today. The Hong Kong Hang Seng added 0.74% to settle at 24,996.14, while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.41% to 3,492.46. The Nikkei 225 also slid 0.61% to 29,106.78 and Kospi Index closed down 1.09% at 2,930.17.